Sharing good news of great joy to all people.
Elation Church. But we're talking about what
does it mean to be a part of the family of God?
What does it mean to be a part of the family
of God? And when we think of the word family,
right, it means a whole lot of different things
to a whole lot of different people, right? Depending
on how you grow up. Depending on what you're
around, sometimes the word family can even be
a little triggering for some, right? Sometimes,
don't shout me down too much. Everybody's like,
yep. Sometimes it can bring a sense of like warm
fuzzies and this good time. And then sometimes
for others, it can be very like, you know, traumatizing
in a bit when we say it. In popular culture.
we see businesses and things starting to use
this language of like, oh, we're a family. How
many of you have been at, you know, your coworkers
are, oh, we're a family now, right? And I just
watched this, like a TED Talk the other week,
and it was talking about the toxicity of calling
your coworkers family, right? And family... terminology
in the workplace is very bad, right? Because
often it creates a false sense of community,
of loyalty, a high loyalty you're getting paid
to have, right? You know what I'm saying, right?
And a sense of sacrifice that often is, you know,
not necessarily reflected anyways. But this sense
of family, you know, And I tend to agree because
your co -workers were never meant to be your
family. You shouldn't put that weight on the
people that you're right. I mean, that's putting
a false sense of dependency on them that it shouldn't
be there. But when we look at family, our expectation,
think about this, our expectation of family is
often grander than our experience. It's interesting.
I want you to think about this for a moment.
The idea of family, where does it come from?
We all have this fantasy family in mind that
we hold our personal families to, right? We hold
them accountable to, and we've just created what
families should be in our own minds and in our
own hearts, but then yet... I would, you know,
if we took a poll in the room, probably everybody
would be like, yeah, my family was not perfect.
You know, like my family failed at times. Like
there's things that happen. But yet we all kind
of have this perfect standard that we hold our
families to. Because, and the reason why I believe
this is so is because God created the concept
and the construct of family. It's founded and
grounded in who he is and how he wants to continue
internally bless the earth. The term family is
not something that we've made up. It's just something
that we've always known. Something that we've
always lived in. Think about that. Because our
expectation is often grander than our experience,
right? But I want to say this. No matter the
dysfunction or brokenness, that you were physically
born into. No matter. In Christ, somebody say
in Christ. In Christ and put a smile on your
face. Come on. Somebody say in Christ. In Christ,
you have been spiritually born into the family
of God. Amen? Something we should get excited
about. I've been excited about this for a while.
And as I was praying, like, what do we need to
go, the direction we need to go today? This just...
came up in my spirit, it was like, this is what
we need to talk about. It was just like, this
is so for us today, right? And it might be something
that you've heard about, talked about, learned
about, or you might think I know everything about
it, but I guarantee you that we all need a refresher
of what it means to be a part of the family of
God, right? What does family mean to God? We've
talked about what it means to us and what it
means to our culture. What does family mean to
God? Now, if we look at that word throughout
Scripture, we see that, you know, God institutes
the family in the beginning. And then it carries
over and that terminology turns into the body
of Christ. And then it goes from there to talk
about the family being the whole universal church.
So that's every Christian, every believer all
over the planet and including those who have
gone before us and passed away. So it includes
the universal church is what I mean by that.
But then it also later on we see the family being...
called the brothers and sisters in Christ at
the church in this. And I'm writing to the church
in whatever, Galatians, Ephesians, those kind
of things. So then it like evolves, you could
say, to become talking about the local church.
And throughout your Bible, I want you to see
that as you're reading it, what family means
and how that term evolves. And we're going to
talk a little about that this morning. But like
I said, family is a divine institution. with
a specific hierarchy and purpose, specific hierarchy
and purpose reflecting God's design and desire
for the home, for the home, for your home, for
this church, for Elation Church, our local church,
and for the whole church. It's a divine institution,
specific hierarchy, purpose reflecting God's
design. Because see, a Christian has two families,
right? They have their natural, they have their
immediate family, right? And then we have the
spiritual family of God. And both, listen to
this, both are bound together by the blood. Both
are bound together by blood. Let's look at some
of these verses. If these don't make you happy,
you just, I can't make you happy. All right?
We're going to be going a lot of verses this
morning, so I hope you brought your Bible or
at least your glasses so you can see the words
on the screen. Ephesians 2 .13, reading out of
the New Living Translation, says this, But now
you have been united, everybody say united, united
with Christ, once you were far away from God,
but now you have been brought near to him through
the blood. Everybody say the blood. The blood
of Christ. This word united here is talking about
bringing you into close fellowship with nearness
to God, and that is accomplished by the blood
of Christ on the cross. Amen? So through the
blood, we are united with Jesus, and this is
all accomplished by faith and by the Holy Spirit
in our lives. So the blood of Christ is what
unifies each one of us, believers, It makes us
one with him. We are described throughout the
Bible as Jesus' body. Not like his body, but
we are described as Jesus' own flesh and blood.
God's own flesh and blood. Amen? This should
just blow your socks off, right? This is crazy.
When we think about God in our position, We need
to become more aware of who we are in Christ.
And we need to develop it as like a skill to...
greater awareness of what that means and so that
we can walk in it and live from this positional
place of in Christ and this foundation of in
Christ because it will change your life, change
everything you do. Ephesians 2 .19 continues.
So now you Gentiles, that's me, everybody says
that's me, are no longer strangers or foreigners.
You are citizens along with all of God's holy
people. You are members of God's family. Here
we go. Here it is. We're united by the blood
and we are members of God's family. Amen. Verse
21 through 22 says, we are carefully, get this,
joined together, carefully joined together in
him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through
him, you Gentiles are also being made part of
this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
Often we say things... you know, talking about
the Spirit of God living on the inside of us,
but we don't read those verses. And I just want
you to see this, that we are carefully constructed
together, this joined together, get a picture
of a construction worker laying a foundation,
building together, and we're becoming something.
We're in the process of becoming something, right?
Becoming the holy temple for the Lord. Our master,
our boss, our one in charge. And then through
him, we are made part of the dwelling. The dwelling
where God lives by his spirit. Wow. Wow. Come
on. Dwelling where God lives by his spirit. See,
church, it's time to start playing church. It's
time to stop playing. We are the dwelling place
of God. And it's time to be the family of God.
We need to quit playing around. We need to act
like this is true. It needs to make a difference
in our life. 1 Corinthians 12, 12 says this,
describes it another way. The human body has
many parts, but the many parts make up one whole
body. So it is with the body of Christ. Verse
27, all of you together are Christ's body, and
each of you is a part of it, like we've seen.
And then in Ephesians, listen to what it does.
Ephesians 1, 22 through 23 says, God has put
all things under the authority of Christ and
has made him head over all things for the benefit
of who? The church, us. Everybody say me. For
the benefit of me, God made Christ the head over
all things. It doesn't say some things. It says
all things for the benefit of me, for the church.
And the church is what? His body. It is made,
get this, we're going to get here by the end,
but it's made full. It's made full and complete.
In him, we are full and complete by Christ. Who
what? Fills. He fills all things everywhere with
himself. So the church. Becomes his body. We
see God is father. Familial language here. Jesus
is God's son. Bible describes we are in Christ.
We are God's family by blood. We are his body.
His body is the church. And then we are the temple
of the spirit. That's a lot. In just those few
verses, that's what we've established so far.
It's amazing. But what is the perfect family
of God supposed to look like? What is it supposed
to look like? How is it supposed to operate?
What is the characteristics of it? And what is
its purpose? So let's talk about what the perfect
family of God should be and what it should look
like. They say comparison is the thief of joy,
but in this sense, we need to look at God like
a mirror and look at the word as like a mirror,
and we need to compare ourselves, our families,
this church, up against the standard of his word
and what he shows us, right? And then that gives
us an object that we can, what, strive for, an
object that we can align ourselves with, okay?
So what is the perfect family of God supposed
to look like and what is its purpose? We find
this throughout the New Testament, but we'll
start in Hebrews 10, 24 through 25. Get this.
Let us think of ways. Everybody say think. Let
us think of ways to motivate one another to acts
of love and good works. And let us not neglect
our meeting together, as some people do, but
encourage one another, especially now that the
day of his return is drawing near. That's a good
word, right? But think about what it's saying
here is that our thoughts should not be so consumed
with us, with ourselves. Our thoughts should
be consumed, what? With purpose and motivation
towards... our brothers and sisters in Christ.
What about that? That's a novel thought. Usually
throughout my day, I'm just thinking about myself
and my own stuff, my own family, my own life.
But we're supposed to think of ways, should occupy
your attention, right? Think of ways and purpose
for motivation to get people motivated to love.
That word love there was agape, the God kind
of love. We're supposed to motivate others to
love. We're supposed to motivate others and encourage
others towards good works. Meeting together,
we're supposed to motivate one another to meet
together, to fellowship with one another. We
need to think about meeting together, encouraging
one another. You can text someone, but it's a
whole lot different when you're in the room with
someone. You tell it to them to their face. Because
talk is cheap, but you can really tell the truth
of a person when you're looking into their eyes,
right? It matters more. So we're supposed to
encourage one another. And we do that by fellowshipping
with one another. And then this brings us to
our main text today in Acts 2, 42 through 47.
really lays the groundwork for the local church
as it sprung out of the day of Pentecost and
all these great things were happening. And then
all of a sudden, here we are laying that foundation.
So let's read about what it means to be the family
of God. What is its purpose? Verse 42, all the
believers, everybody say all, all the believers.
devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching
and to fellowship and to sharing in meals, including
the Lord's Supper and to prayer. I just want
to pause here, and I'm going to get off my soapbox,
I promise. But when it says all the believers,
it means all the believers. I feel very passionate
about this. A lot of times in our churches, we've
sort of fostered this idea that Believers need
to be separated by gender, by age, by race, whatever,
by, you know, social status, your time in life.
We separate people and we think, oh, well, they
got to have something different. But the early
church didn't function that way. We're called
to be together, to be in unity with one another
because, you know what? The younger generation
needs the older generation. And you know what?
The older generation needs the young ones, right?
Because the young ones have passion. The young
ones have life. And the young ones take a hold
of things that sometimes you've forgotten. And
then, you know, the younger ones need to look
up to the older ones with respect and honor,
right? And they can learn a thing or two from
the experience. You know, you can learn something
when you're around somebody who's spent some
time with God. It's a tangible thing. You can
feel it. And when you get around them, you start
like, whoa, they got something going on. It's
like, whew, feel it, right? And, huh? Yeah, so
you feel it, and then all of a sudden you start
catching it, right? Because you need to be around
some people. Did you know you become who you're
around? If you don't like who you're becoming,
you need to check who you're around, right? Who
you're listening to, who you're allowing influence
over your life, right? So, all the believers,
soapbox is over, all the believers devoted themselves
to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship and
to sharing in meals. Hallelujah! I like food!
Woo! Sharon and Mills, Slim's Chicken. Sharon
and Mills, including the Lord's Prayer. The Lord's,
including, sorry, the Lord's Supper, right? Communion
and prayer. So it's not just meals. It's not
just the Lord's Supper. It's prayer too. So God's
family, listen, is devoted to spirit -led teaching.
Because we don't need, you know. There's a lot
of information, but we need the Spirit's revelation,
right? We need some things to change. We need
a word from God. That's why we encourage you
to take notes because not everything that we
say, listen, not everything that we say is written
down on the screen. Sometimes God speaks through
us and uses us and shares something personally
to you. And if you knew what you were missing,
When God speaks to you, if you knew the importance
of it and the weight of what he shares to you,
if you knew what you were missing, you wouldn't
forget it. You wouldn't want to like, you wouldn't
want to miss it. And so many times, God's speaking
whether we're listening or not. He shares a word
for you in a timely state. And I believe most
of the things that he speaks to us, this revelatory
word that he speaks to us, is to put you in a
position for something that you to stand on.
But often we hear the word, we don't allow it
sink into our hearts and we forget it. We'll
leave a service like this where we're expecting
to hear from God. God, I want to hear you. God,
I hope you come that way. And you're just like,
God, I need a word for my week, for my family,
something personal, right? You get that word,
you leave. By the time you eat your fried chicken,
it's gone. And then you run up against that situation
that God was trying to speak to you about. And
instead of having to, you know, something to
stand on, something to have faith, right? You've
done forgot the word that could have allowed
you to just push through, that could have allowed
you to overcome. Now you have to wait to hear
that word again. God's family is devoted to spirit
-led teaching, devoted to spiritual growth, devoted
to fellowship, including food, and communion,
and prayer, devoted to prayer. Continuing on
in verse 43. Get this, a deep sense of awe came
over them all. And the apostles performed many
miraculous signs and wonders. This is the early
church. This is the perfect example of what should
be taking place. We need to see these types of
things. Because the family together... sees the
manifested presence of God in a real tangible
way. The family of God sees the power of God
on display. The family together sees miracles
happen, transformation happen, deliverance happen,
signs, wonders, healing. When you're sick, right?
You're supposed to call the elders of the church
and they're supposed to lay hands on you. When's
the last time that happened? Come on. The family
together sees the power of God on display because
when two or three are gathered in his name, come
on, when two or three are gathered, something
shakes the earth. You need to be set free. You
don't need to be doing it alone. If the enemy
can isolate you, he can defeat you. If he can
make you think that you're alone in this world,
you've already lost the battle. Continuing, verse
44, and all the believers met together in one
place. and shared everything they had. They sold
their property and possessions and shared the
money with those in need. It's talking about
their sharing amongst themselves with those in
need in their congregation. Not just finance
in the world, not just resource in the whole
world. Specifically talking about the local church
and sharing with those amongst. other believers,
right? Lifting them up, encouraging them, motivating
them with your time, your resources, all these
things that God has given you, right? 46, they
worshiped together at the temple each day. They
met in homes for the Lord's Supper and shared
their meals with great joy. Great joy and generosity.
So the family of God, listen, regularly meets
together in one place to worship. Is that what
the Bible said or is that what Jeffrey's? No,
it's what the Bible said. So don't get mad at
me. But the family of God regularly meets together
in one place to worship. Can you experience God
outside of, you know? Yes, you're encouraged
to. Yes, you can. But in order to participate
and receive the benefits from the divine hierarchy
and purpose and design of the family and of the
church, there's certain things that you will
miss, and it will be much harder for you to obtain
apart from the family. We're supposed to regularly
meet together in one place. I hate to bust it,
but like, you know, we need to be together in
the same room, seeing one another, worship, seeing
one another, praise God, knowing what's going
on so we can carry the burdens of the people
around us, amen? And this is all... The family
of God also shows radical generosity. Think about
what it talked about here. They were selling
possessions just to help, right? Just to help
each other. Radical generosity towards each other.
So different, so far in from our ideas of what
we think church is about. But this is the way
the perfect family of God should operate. The
family of God shares everything. With great joy.
Amen. Shares everything gladly. With great joy.
47. All the while. So all that. They're doing
all that. And then on top of all that. They're
praising God. Praising God. Lifting his name.
Enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And
each day. Each day the Lord added to their fellowship
those who were being saved. Amen. Because the
family of God, what? They praise God, characterized
by their praise, their enjoyment of one another,
not backstabbing, talking about, you know, talking
trash about. The family of God praises God, enjoys
one another, enjoys the goodwill of each other.
And then it doesn't stop there. It's not just
me and my family and no one else, right? It's
not just my little click, my little circle that
we get real comfortable with, and we're just
like, oh, that'd be really nice to just have
this little, you know. No. The family of God
actively invites. The family of God actively
welcomes all to join God's family. We do that
by sharing the gospel. When's the last time you
shared the gospel with someone? And I'm not talking
about just like, well, they just see it by how
I live. What kind of person are you? Honestly,
I hear people say that, and I'm just like, really?
Like, whoa. I don't know what you got going on,
but they're just going to see it by how I live.
They should see it. There should be evidence.
And I'm not meaning to mock that. But at the
same time, it's like we need to share what God
has done because there's power in a testimony.
And if you're a Christian, you should have a
testimony every week of God doing something awesome
in your life. If he's real, then it should be
evident in the life of a Christian. There is
no excuse. There is no time to wait. Jesus is
coming soon. The family of God actively invites
and actively welcomes all to join God's family,
participates in outreach, but then also doesn't
shun people who come into our midst, right? People,
we're constantly welcoming them in as a brother
and a sister in Christ. Not based on what they
look like, their age. If they have all this money,
we shouldn't treat them better than someone who
doesn't have money. Come on, it happens all the
time in churches all over America. We treat somebody
based on how they look, not based on their position
in Christ. But in Christ, they have access to
everything that you do too. In Christ, they have
the same bloodline that you do. Come on. I'm
called to welcome people in. I love this. The
family's purpose is given right here in Genesis
from the very beginning. I've never looked at
these words before, but I just, kind of spirit
brought it up to me, and it just like, boom,
like a light bulb or dynamite kicked off, right?
Genesis 1 .28, after he creates man and woman,
what does he say? He says, be fruitful and multiply.
Be fruitful and multiply. That word there, listen,
to fill. Hebrew word means to fill. Didn't we
just talk about that? That in Christ, he fills
us, right? He fills us with his spirit. Not to
the point where it's like, oh, we're just like
half full, you know, unless you're one of those
like glass half full kind of people, you know.
No, no, he fills you to fullness. You're full
to fill, to be full, to fulfill his purposes
in the earth. To completeness, wholeness. So
be fruitful means to fill, to be full of God,
and to fulfill and to be complete in him. And
then rabal means to increase, to multiply, to
become many, and to grow. Is that not what we've
been talking about? Is that not what these verses
have been saying? God is the same yesterday,
today, and forever, and his command still...
To us, to his church, is the same. Be fruitful.
Be full. Why? Based on your effort? No. Based
on God's fulfillment, right? Based on God's completeness.
Based on who he is, right? We are filled and
overflowing. And what does this mean for the
believer that's in Christ? Think about it. It
means that if Christ is the one who fills you,
if he is your source, it means you have everything
that you need to live a life of godliness, to
live in this earth. You have everything you need.
So therefore, when God asks you to do something,
he's not expecting you to turn to your resource.
to make it happen. When God asks you to do something,
often we look at, well, what do I have, right?
Because he calls us to do something often greater
than what we have in our hands, right? And so
we turn to our resource, we turn to our natural
ability. But when God tells you to do something,
see, he's already filled you up with the power,
with the ability. with the talent, with the resource
in Christ, you are full and complete to carry
out his purpose in the earth and what he's called
you to do. So I like to put it this way. He,
look, he's just waiting for your yes. He provides
all the things that you need. He just wants your
yes. Who's going to say yes to the next thing
God tells you to do? Not worried about what is
going to happen when you try to figure all those
things out? Listen, you'll grab a hold of the
first little thing that resembles what you think
God should be doing in your life. We're not called
to figure it out. We're called to respond in
faith, yes. Let it be according to your word
in my life like Mary. She didn't know how it
was going to happen, didn't understand it. She
didn't have to know, but she just said, let it
be when the angel spoke to her. She said, let
it be according to your word. That's faith. That's
the faith that pleases God. Come on. He fulfills,
he fills your yes. with the ability and power
to accomplish what he's called you to do. So
quit saying no. Quit saying, turn into your own
resources. Quit turning to every other excuse.
Say yes to God, amen? He calls us to increase,
to multiply. Our mission should be to reach out.
Reach out to our communities. Tell them about
the love of Christ, amen? And then we talked
a little bit of this, another aspect of the family
of God and its hierarchy and structure. 1 Timothy
5, 1 through 2 says this, Never speak harshly
to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully
as you would to your own father. Talk to younger
men as you would to your own brothers. Why is
this? Because in Christ, if they're believers
in Christ, they are your brothers, right? And
they are your sisters. Verse 2, treat older women
as you would your mother. And treat younger women
with all purity as you would your own sisters.
It's a construct of honor that we've talked about
a couple weeks ago. The family of God is built
on this divine hierarchy of honor. If you want
to know more about that, go look at the podcast,
go read them. We talked all about honor and honoring
the family. But listen, and I'm done. You cannot
fully experience the family of God apart from
the people of God, apart from the family, right?
You can't fully experience it. And is God's family
perfect? Again, I'll say this again, because
this is where church hurt comes. Is God's family
perfect? You know, no earthly family is perfect.
And we're all made up of, you know, we're all
humans, right? We're all flawed, right? So why
do we expect always that, you know? Our local
church, like if our own family's not perfect
and has flaws and chaos and all these things
harbor and people, you know, walk out and people,
you know, all these things take place. Why is
it that we hold the local church or the global
church? I can't tell you how many people I've
talked to at work who this is, this is it right
here. You know, they've been hurt. They were
in some environment, something happened, they
were hurt, and they said, I don't want anything
to do with that. And turned their back on it
all. Is God's family perfect? No. It's perfect
in its formation and its calling from God, but
it's flawed in its population. It's flawed in
its members, right? And I want to say this, and
I'll turn it off, but if you expect something
from the church that only God can give you, That's
idolatry. A lot of people look to this and somebody,
some person, and they expect to, you know, have
this God -like thing, right? And then when the
pastor, whatever, something happens, whatever,
they're just like, their whole worldview corrupts
and they leave the church. Why? Was your faith
in the pastor? Was it in the people that you're
around? Like, what? No, it's in God. And God's
calling us to be around people. God's calling
us a part of his family. His brothers and sisters
in Christ were supposed to view one another,
right? And it might mean that you wind up in
a different local family or gathering or whatever.
It might mean that all these bad things happen,
but don't ever place anything, In your life higher
than God. Right? Don't place people in that position.
Because you know what? People will always let
you down. But God will never let you down. Amen?
So we need to obey his word. And God wants to
use the church. His family. God wants to use
this church. God wants to use elation. We are
his family despite all of our imperfections.
Whatever kind of baggage you walk through the
door with, God's going to use it, right? He's
going to use you for the kingdom. Nothing you've
done discredits you, look, from participating
in the family of God. Yeah? God wants to use
this church despite all its imperfections. as
a vehicle, as a conduit for his eternal plan
today. God wants to use the church. God wants
to use your individual family as a conduit, as
a vehicle for his eternal plan in the earth.
God wants to use the global church, the universal
church, as his vehicle, his plan to accomplish
his blessing in the earth. It's not something
that we can just walk away from. The family is
how he designed it to be. God instituted the
family before the church. Dad said this the other
week, and it just like light bulb to me. He institutes
the family before the church, but he continues
the family model in the church. Through generation
to generation to generation, it happens and it's
formed the same way. So in summary, what the
family of God is all about, what it's about motivating
each other towards radical generosity, it's about
motivating each other towards love, the God kind
of love, motivating each other to good works,
to sharing with one another. The family of God
is about miracles. We should expect to see the
miracle power of God in our lives and in this
body. Amen? There's no sickness in Jesus' body.
Listen, so why is there sickness in our body
if we're in him? Think about it. I'm going to
leave that alone. The family of God is about
fellowship, right? But not just fellowship, you
know, it's supposed to be continual fellowship.
Together, regular fellowship with people in one
place. That's what we're doing. That's why you
come to church. It's a vehicle for us to participate
in what God has called us to do. Galatian is
just a fun name that we tag on what we're doing,
right? Because we're supposed to have great joy
when we meet together. Right? Galatians is not
the church. You are the church. You are the called
out ones, the people of God, right? We're supposed
to fellowship together in one place. We're supposed
to be about spiritual teaching and growth, prayer,
communion, multiplication. We're supposed to
be welcoming. Family of God is supposed to be
about honor. And great joy. This online worship
experience was brought to you by the friends
and partners of Elation Church.