The Church Defined預覽

Family of God

In John 1:12,13 we read, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (ESV)

Most of us are privileged to belong to a family, where we both experience and share love.  Sadly however, there are those who have been deprived of this blessing because they were orphaned or abandoned. Nonetheless, the good thing is, many of us have the opportunity to have our own families, whom we love and cherish.

There is another family that all of us can be part of. Those of us who have made Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives (as stated in John 1:12) are part of this larger family, which is the family of God. In this spiritual family, God becomes our Father, we become His children and other believers become our brothers and sisters. The blood of Jesus Christ is what binds us together, and this family is not just local, but a global one.

When Jesus was here on earth, He too had an earthly family. Once, when Jesus was teaching the multitudes, someone came and informed Him that His mother and brothers were standing outside wishing to speak to Him. This was Jesus’ reply in Matthew 12:48-50, “But He answered and said to the one who told Him, ‘Who is My mother and who are My brothers?’ And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, ‘Here are My mother and My brothers!  For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.’” (NKJV) Though Jesus did not refute that his mother and brothers were his earthly family, He went on to redefine God’s family as those who did the will of His Father in heaven.

Another time when Jesus was teaching, “A woman in the crowd called out, ‘Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.’ He replied, ‘Blessed rather, are those who hear the word of God and obey it.’” Luke 11:27-28 (NIV). Here again Jesus reiterated that it was not his mother who bore Him who was blessed, but rather it was those who lived their lives in complete obedience to the word of God.

In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus cautioned us, “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.  On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’” (NLT)

There are therefore two important aspects for those of us who belong to the family of God. One is to do the will of God and the other, to heed and obey His word.

1 John 3:1 says, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” (NKJV) Since God has lavished His love on us as His children, may we love and treasure our spiritual family as much as we value our earthly families.