Family of God
Family can be a scary word, and an even scarier concept. To be tied to a group of people for the entirety of your life. You can be hurt by them, angry at them, walk away from them, or be disowned by them. But when it comes down to it they are still connected to you. It’s much easier to think of family like you would a business. Your good performance is rewarded with promotions, there is a clear ladder to climb, you are invited to evaluate and critique, and if you don’t like something you can walk away. Try doing that over the Easter Ham and the plastic eggs won’t be the only thing being hunted down.
The Family of God isn’t a business.
When Holy Spirit fall at Pentecost a lot of amazing things started happening. Literal fire fell down and hovered over people’s heads, people started speaking in languages they didn’t know. Flappy mouth Peter gave a sermon that was so moving thousands of people believed in Jesus. Perhaps one of the most inspiring events to unfold in Acts 2:42-47.
“They devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and to fellowship. To the breaking of bread, and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the Apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes, and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
I believe that revival and family go hand and hand. If we want to see Holy Spirit move powerfully in our midst it’s time to become family. Otherwise, when revival comes to the church again, we will just be individuals who had an encounter with Holy Spirit, rather than a community that holds encounter with the Holy Spirit.
If you grew up in a broken family, you know that people are attracted to families.
However, none of our families are perfect. I believe that our broken view of families can effect the way that we view the Family of God, the Church. Let’s take a split family for example. Maybe the family is split because of death, divorce, or even a deep disagreement. The projected view onto the church becomes distrust, fear of being rejected, or trying to be self sufficient. Another example could be the family that is driven by performance. This family values appearance, standards and demands. When we disappoint them it feels like love or acceptance is taken away. Well how could that effect our view of the church? We hide our weaknesses, and believe that we will only be accepted if we can perform.
Thankfully, there are good families that are a good support system. Good families raise up functioning members of society. As a result the family is a place to get fed, and also to give back. However, even in good families we can carry baggage. It might be hard to know why we would need the church community, or we can become over protective of our families when they are hurt by others.
We must forgive and release our families from the way that they hurt us. So often when we forgive we realize the person that was really imprisoned by our unforgiveness was us. This forgiveness will allow for open doors and hope when it comes to our relationship with others.
The Family of God, the Church, is God’s way of bringing about restoration to the world. Partnering ourselves with the global and local church is crucial in bringing healthy, lasting change to our lives and our communities. It means staying committed when things get hard, or confusing. It means walking through forgiveness and choosing to honor leadership despite perceived hurt. When we do this we find something that goes far beyond ourselves. We find deep, authentic relationship. We find a community that can hold revival.