Growing as a Family Member
"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God"
(Ephesians 2:19)
When we place our faith in Christ, God becomes our Father, we become his children, other believers become our brothers and sisters, and the church becomes our spiritual family
- Rick Warren
The gospel shapes a new community of those who are now adopted into his family. We are literal "family members" in the household of God; mums and dads, brothers and sisters, aunties and uncles who love, serve, care and sacrifice for one another.
Family Members;
- Build healthy relationships with others
- Practice hospitality
- Serve God and others
Build healthy relationships with others
We live in a culture that emphasises individual autonomy and the primacy of self. It is in the air we breathe. And yet, when it comes to living the Christian life, individual autonomy is an illusion. You simply cannot be a lone Christian. We need each other.
Habits to cultivate;
Practice hospitality
In our 21st-century Western context, "hospitality" is an industry or a form of entertainment. But biblically, hospitality, from Genesis all the way through scripture, is "an offer to identify with outsiders and to treat them like insiders" (Scott Cormode). Hospitality is extending privilege across difference.
Habits to cultivate;
Serve God and others
Even a cursory glance through the pages of scripture will reveal a common theme throughout; serving others for the sake of the glory of God. From Joshua, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15), to the greater Joshua, "whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28), serving God and others is deeply embedded in the DNA of the people of God.
Habits to cultivate;
Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash
