The Family of Faith

Eph 2:11-19 Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15 Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17 And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

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Our life as a Christian should be all about living for God and having a relationship with Him. That's what it's all about. Sometimes we complicate things and get distracted but our relationship with God is the primary concern and agenda that all of us have. It is interesting to note that if we go back in time before we had all of the 613 commandments of the law of Moses, and before all of the patriarchs and blood sacrifice, even before there was sin, and therefore a need for redemption -- when we go back to the roots of what this thing is all about -- we will find that life was granted to humanity so that they could have a relationship with God. In the garden, we find that Adam needed three things to live and to have a perfect relationship with God: 1. The Spirit of God breathed into you. In creation, Adam received this special spiritual relationship the day that he was formed. 2. shelter and a place to live. In this case, God gave Adam the Garden of Eden and so man had a place in which he could dwell and meet with God. 3. Good food to eat. And so God gave man every tree except one, to eat the fruit thereof. 4. A family, in that God saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so Eve was created and they were created in such a way as to be able to have and rear children. And when those children were born, they were helpless and in need of training.

After sin came into being and brought death and pain, we find that it destroyed all four areas that were needed for Adam to have a proper relationship with God. The spiritual closeness and Spirit of God that Adam enjoyed died when he sinned. He was driven from his garden, never to return. With that exile, Adam lost access to the food supply of God and had to forage for his own survival and work! And we find, the family that God had given him, we see it ravaged by the work of sin in Cain killing his brother Abel and then becoming a castaway. Dysfunctional families are not a new thing, in fact, the very first family was dysfunctional, but only because of sin!

When it all comes down to living for God, you really only need these four things to survive, and hell knows about them and so tries to destroy these four things with all it's might. We live in a world that it's total agenda is "anti-God" and anti-scripture and wants nothing more than destroy the very four things that you need and must have in order to serve God.

Let's consider them one by one and realize the traps and agenda of Satan to destroy these things.

1. The breath of life from the Spirit of God -- Most of you know enough scripture to know that the Holy Ghost was the reversal of the relationship that was lost in the garden of Eden. For those of you who don't know, the infilling of the Holy Ghost beginning on the Day of Pentecost was the regeneration or bringing back to life of man's dormant spirit that was passed on through Adam's sin. We are all born in a sinful state, needing a spiritual restoration and resurrection, and so before we receive the Holy Ghost, we are like Adam after his sin, but after we receive the Holy Ghost, that relationship that was lost in the garden of Eden is restored! To have the relationship with God as He originally desired, you need the Holy Ghost!

And so this world has sought to destroy the Holy Ghost. Most religions do not teach that you should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues like the original Apostles did, some do teach it but make it optional for salvation to receive, and many have taken the incorrigible stance that miracles have ceased and the Holy Ghost is not for today and neither is healing. Others have developed this so called doctrine of "accepting Christ as your personal Savior through stating that you have done so and have thrown away the scriptural commandments of true faith in Jesus, repentance, water baptism in Jesus' name, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost, as well as continuing to live holy as you grow and endure to the end. What are all these views? They are simply tools of Satan to steal from us the "breath of life" that we must have to have a proper relationship with God. But I'm here to tell you that it is still for you today, and it's not optional! The Holy Ghost is still necessary for a proper relationship with God!

2. Shelter, and a place to meet God -- This applies in the literal sense and in the spiritual sense, and the devil is trying his best to destroy both. Our shelter in the spiritual sense is the "name of the Lord:"

Prov 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower : the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

The name of the Lord is also our "place to meet God" because Jesus said that He was as close as the mention of His name! I shouldn't have to go into great detail for you to be able to see how Satan is trying to destroy this shelter. The name of the Lord -- as Saul found out on the road to Damascus -- is Jesus! But many churches don't worship Jesus, but Mary. Or they no longer baptize in Jesus' name. And they have degraded the One whom that name represents. But it is still the only saving name!

We also have a literal shelter and place to meet God in our life, the local church building. This place ought to be a shelter. We should "forsake not the assembling or ourselves together" -- that's still scripture! But our world now just wants to sit at home and watch television evangelists and feel religious. Or just go once a week and forget about having to go to the trouble of actually coming to the physical building -- that's too much sacrifice. You may call it sacrifice, but I call it worship. The very act of coming to gather together in the house of God is worship! But this world wants to destroy that. So we have NFL football and the Nascar races on Sunday. Places of employment are now open on Sunday. Friday and Saturday are party days and you are encouraged to spend a night on the town on those evenings, because after all Sunday is a day that you can sleep in and recover. All of those things are a trap from Satan to keep people out of the shelter, out of the place where they can meet with and learn about God Almighty -- His house! You need such a place to live for God!

3. Food from God -- And never forget that when you remove yourself from the place of meeting God, the real detriment is that you are also removing yourself from your primary food source! When you are out of the house of God, it is akin to not eating spiritually. There is no one to actively and in person lead you in heavenly worship, you are missing the banquet table in the Spirit that God spreads before us each service, and you are missing the main course, the prime steak, the sermon from a man who cares about your soul and fasts and prays for you. There are those who say "I can feed myself and I can study God's Word and eat spiritually at home without a pastor and regular church attendance" but those are people who are content to be like Adam and Eve, starving outside of the garden, scrounging for roots and bitter herbs when inside the garden is every good thing to eat freely growing! You might barely get by yourself, but God never intended for those in a close relationship to "barely get by." They are alike a beggar proud of himself for finding some orange peel in the dumpster when he was invited in to the royal feast!

The devil knows as every parent knows that the best way to destroy your appetite for the good meal that is being fixed is to fill up on something else first. That is why the entertainment world of America is responsible for our lack of the supernatural and receiving the greater anointings of God. There's so much junk food readily available today for the flesh, that we rarely can hold everything that God wants us to. Most people can't read very well today, because they were sat in front of a television all of their life and so their devotion to reading God's love letter suffers. They want to reinvent the church to being visual, but God is a "letter and Word" kind of God. We watch and listen and can even play games on our phones today. Entertainment, Entertainment, Entertainment. And most of us are so used to being entertained without any involvement required, that we come to the house of God with the same mentality. It's not really necessary to participate in worship or at the altar call, because our natural tendecy is to just sit back and watch the show. If we are not careful, church can become a television with a live stage and actors that people just watch. God's not interested in you watching what's going on, but this is a very real thing, that you need to participate in. People are programmed to less than five minutes of real stuff and then a commercial break. Our vocabulary is horrible, our comprehension level is horrible, and our attention spans are shot. All because of "entertainment" and because we have all given in to the behavior that this world wants us to learn. We are desensitized to violence, nudity, and profanity and yet many of us are just as content to eat and consume that stuff and wonder why we can't pray more than fifteen minutes and yield to God's presence and linger there after a service to receive all that we need. We have changed, but God has not changed and His principles are still in vogue. Church is not the problem, nor is our format for church which is by the way based upon the Apostles' methods. The problem is our hunger and appetite. We are so full of other things, that we come to church and God gets to fill whatever's left!

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4. The family -- And really this is the one that the devil fights the strongest. You need a family unit in your life. You need someone to love you and be your brother and sister. You need someone who cares for you that is another human being. People who say "I don't need anybody else" are liars and are only fooling themselves. God said it is not good for you to be alone. Everybody, even Job, needs someone to stand with them and laugh and cry with.

The homosexual agenda is really only just another attack on the family. The devil wants to destroy the family, because it was created by God. The family is a precious thing. God ordained for one man to marry one woman and them to live happily ever after and raise their children to serve God before He ordained any other institution. Before there was a priesthood, there was a family. Before there was a church building or tabernacle, there was a family. Before there was a blood sacrifice and even sin and the need for Calvary, there was a family. The family is God's gift to us. But we have watched so many television shows and seen so many movies and read so many books and heard so many stories that have portrayed the family as something to be made fun of. I named this sermon after a T.V. show that I have never watched, but I guarantee that the family portrayed on that show is not godly, and I'll bet that it portrays dad and mom and kids in such a way as to demean them and give false views. According to this world, "dad" is not the godly priest of his home and the spiritual leader, but Homer Simpson, the deadbeat who goes off mad once in a while and lives for his own selfish gain and who lazily sits around the house and all the others wait on hand and foot and really mother is smarter and knows better than and dad is just somebody that you pretend to listen to and then do what you want. The mother is a jezebel who is the supreme authority of the household and who has our own agendas which she tweeks every situation to suit and the morals and the integrity of a goat. The children are rebellious jerks with smart mouths who do whatever they want, get whatever they want, and never fear retribution because discipline is an old-fashioned idea that went out with the attitude "children should be seen and not heard" and basically if the child cries enough or whines enough or is emotional enough or threatens enough, the wishy-washy, spineless parents will give in and give them whatever they want to pacify them. Normal? Yes, but that's not how it is supposed to be in the sight of God. When you give in to that stereotype, you are giving in to what the devil wants you to believe that the family should be! And it is everything opposite what you need. No, little sally doesn't need Ted Bundy or Homer Simpson for a dad, but she doesn't need two mommies either! She needs a dad who is the leader of his home in prayer, worship, giving, integrity, and work ethic and a godly mother who is the picture of holiness inwardly and outwardly and who is a willing and devoted servant to her family! She needs parents who will take her to church and live the pastor's sermons in front of her throughout the week! She needs to be taught that there is a better way to live than what this world calls "normal!" This world has an agenda and that agenda is to tear down every area that we need to have a relationship with God that is strong and healthy. We must stand for truth! It's all about having a relationship with God!

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Some of you are wondering what this has to do with our texts. In our texts, Paul is writing to churches that he has established and he uses unique language in both. In our first text, writing to the church of Ephesus, Paul reminds them of how that as Gentiles, they were really not a chosen people or having a promise or a hope in this world until God saved them. But now, because of the work of Calvary and through the work of the Spirit, they are "somebody." And he finishes the thought with:

Eph 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

We are fellowcitizens of the same destination as Abraham and Isaac and Joseph and David! And we are even better than that we are "of the household of God." "Household" means "family." Paul used the same terminology in the other text to the church in Galatia:

Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Do good to every person in every opportunity and every way possible but especially to those who are in the "household" or "family of faith!" I want you to understand that the church is to be a family. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. I like when Ananias was commanded to go pray for the evil, persecutor Saul to receive the Holy Ghost, that when Ananias got there, he said:

Acts 9:17 And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

This is a man who had persecuted and probably killed some of Ananias' friends, and yet Ananias' understanding was such that he realized that if this man was going to be forgiven by the Lord and filled with the same Holy Ghost, then they were about to be a part of the same family! And so, by faith, Ananias greeted him "brother Saul." We call each other brother and sister around here, but don't ever forget the reason for that: we are to be a family and as my mother used to say "blood is thicker than blood." In other words, the blood of Jesus means a lot more and is more of a common thread than DNA and birth relatives! If we have been baptized in His name and filled with His Spirit then we are all apart of the same family, the "household of faith!" The church people are the missing element of many people's relationship with God. There are those who are filled with the Spirit of God, go to a church, listen to preaching, but the church body is not really a family. Or they are never a part of the family of the church. They are always the maverick, going the other way, spending time with other things, on the outside looking in, hesitant to get involved. Somebody needs to change the way that you view the church and your brothers and sisters, because they are more than just fellow Christians, we are of the household of faith! We are supposed to be a family!

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The problem is that because we have grown up in a society that has such an agenda against the scriptural family. That our church is not what is should be because we view our brothers and sisters and pastor with the same warped mindset that we view our normal family. When a person first comes to church, they view and trust authority just as much as their parents taught them to trust authority by example. For some one who comes from a family where violence and tempers are unchecked, then they view a church full of hot-heads and railers as "normal." For someone who comes from a home with an abusive father, then they view the pastor and all other authority with distrust and walls put up. When people have grown up saying whatever they felt like -- no matter how hurtful and painful it is -- about their siblings, then they come to church and gossip and slander and evil speaking just comes naturally!

It's normal, but it's not right! We need a rebirth of the family as God designed it! And we need this transformation of our minds not only for our family life at home, but so as the church of the living God, we can be the "household of faith" that we should be!

With all of this in mind, I came across the following information the past weekend. It is information compiled by Bro. Robert Trapani, a Holy Ghost filled marriage counselor and psychologist and it was taught by Bro. David Bernard. It's called "traits of a healthy family" and it is designed to teach us the characteristics of a Godly family. In finishing this sermon, I want to present it to you, not only from the standpoint of your personal, immediate family, but also as characteristics we need for our church family to be what it should:

Traits of a Healthy Family:

1. They teach respect for one another.

Your kids should be taught to respect each other. This is very important in regard to the mouth. It should not be the norm for children to run each other down without being stopped by the parents. Mothers should not point out Daddy's faults to the children and Daddy should not do it either. Mother should never look at the child and say "oh, Daddy's just being too hard." or Daddy to tell the kids "oh your mother is just a too fanatical or stupid." To do so is to teach your kids to disrespect each other.

We need that respect in the church house too. You should teach your kids to respect the rights and lives of others. Joking is fine, but we need to be careful in our joking that we do not keep on until we cross a line of respect that is hard to reestablish. Jesus said that His disciple would be known because of their "love one for another." You need to greet others with respect and with honor to their face and away from them. Teach your kids that the people of the church are special friends that go far beyond literal family and worldly acquaintances. Teach your kids that they should trust and love and respect their pastor and other Godly leaders in the church.

2. They develop a sense of trust.

We must learn to trust each other. Believe only the good and none of the bad unless the person themselves prove you wrong. And even then, be willing to forgive quickly and trust again. You should protect each other. Families should willingly be accountable to each other. There should be nothing to hide or do in secret.

To love, you must trust. And to love you must be vulnerable. You can't love without leaving yourself open for hurts. We must be open with each other, and we should be men and women of our word, especially to other church members. We should not do things that would breed mistrust and doubt in our faithfulness. We are a family!

3. They have a sense of play and humor.

We certainly don't have a problem with this one! But some people think that the church people and fellowships should be all serious with quoted prayers and "holy, holy, holy." You need to be able to laugh at yourself. If you can't laugh at yourself, then you won't make it long in life, and for sure won't make it in living for God. Building a home, and a church is hard work. And yet it can be a lot of fun, if we approach it that way. Coming to church ought to be fun and exciting. What you get out of a church service will always be related with whatever mindset you came in with. We're family. We ought to be able to cry together, but also be able to laugh together!

4. They exhibit and teach a sense of right and wrong.

Healthy families teach their children that there are some things that are ALWAYS right and some things that are ALWAYS wrong! It must be in the church, too! There are some absolutes in the scripture! We cannot afford to compromise our message!

5. They have a shared religious core.

How can two walk together unless they agree? That's what the prophet Amos said and it's true for our families. There are some things that are absolutes in the Word of God, but there are other things that you may disagree on. There are times that on small matters the husband and wife may disagree on. When that happens, then both of you need to compromise and live whatever it is your pastor teaches in that area. And it's the same in the church. If you see something one way and another sister sees it another, why don't ya'll meet in the middle and go with the third party whom God has placed as authority in your life: your pastor's teaching. That's why there can only be one pastor, because the church assembly must agree to walk one way!

All of us need to be men and women of prayer and of fasting and of worship and of the Word!

6. They respect the privacy of one another.

Children need a space to call their own and the other children must be taught to respect it. The same goes for the church. We don't need "tattletails" and "busybodies" in the church family either. You don't need to be in the personal business and you have no right to know about everything that is going on in your brothers and sisters' lives.

7. They value service to others.

A healthy, Godly family has everyone pitch in and do their share. A family is just hard work but if everyone does something, then nobody is stuck with the full load. Daddy needs to do things around the house. Mommy needs to do things around the house. The kids need to chip in and help. It's everybody's family. Everybody needs to be a part.

This is where we sorely lack in this church. We don't value service to others. We look at helping our fellow brother or sister as a nuisance and a bother and not as a ministry. We have many who are faithful to clean the church or mow the grass, or help with bread, but not all. Everyone of you needs to be involved in service one to another. This is not Pastor Sibley's church, but this is our church. We are the family of God. The upkeep of this place is our responsibility. I'm going to confess something to you: I let things go maintenance wise sometime around here, just to see if anyone notices. Usually I will pick up a piece of trash that's laying outside or change the light bulb or cut the grass or whatever, but there have been times that I've not done so just to see is someone else would do it because I wanted to see what our heart is like. I wanted to see if we have the attitude of being like Jesus who was "a servant" or if we had the attitude of "better than that."

If we planned it and killed ourselves and cut back on our personal time and study time and other ministries, my wife and I could -- we could -- clean all the buildings, mow the grass, trim the hedges, replace the light bulbs, organize the storage sheds, sweep and mop the floor, wipe the tables, take out the trash, vacuum the carpet, straighten the toys in the nursery, replace the toilet paper and towels in the bathrooms, wash the baptismal robes and towels, organize the tape ministry, jiggle the toilet handles, make sure the toilets are flushed, dust the pews, pick up all the snotty tissues and candy wrappers, scrub the baptismal tank, put out tithing and offering envelopes, weed eat around the buildings, pick up the rocks, pick up the trash thrown on the ground, unstop the toilets, lock up all the buildings, turn off all the AC units, buy all the supplies, fix all the locks and doors, take care of all plumbing problems, recaulk everything that needs to be fixed, trim all the trees, landscape the flower beds, replace the trim, straighten the stuff left on the pews, fill the water glasses, and attractively arrange the magazines on the back tables. But if we do all of that ourselves, on top of our ministerial responsibilities, then you are not contributing to this family!

8. They admit to the need for and they seek help with problems.

Faulty families put up walls of fakery and hide behind them. Healthy families admit the areas that they need help with in their lives and seek help with their problems. They are not content to just allow things to go by, but actively seek out solutions to their faults and want to grow closer and better.

We need a church with the attitude that we will not kill our own. We will not crucify our brothers and sisters and attack them for their weaknesses. We will not "push them out of our group" because of what they are having to work on. Because all of us have weaknesses. All of us have things that we need to admit and allow God to change! All of us are a work in progress. All of have failed and come short of the glory of God. We must be patient and kind and loving above all else. The very person you are ostracizing might one day be the person from whom you need mercy. In fact, God usually works it out that way!

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Let's end with a well-known scripture:

1 Tim 5:8 But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

We use this scripture to highlight the importance of a man providing food and such for his family, and it certainly applies to that. But the word for "provide" in the Greek does not mean "to bring home a paycheck." It actually means "to consider in advance; to look out beforehand." In other words, it means to "act with the future results in mind." It refers to living and conducting ourselves with the good of the family foremost in our minds.

This scripture applies to the church family as well as the natural family. We must live and act with the future good of each other in mind. We need to begin to change some things so that our church family will be blessed and closer and more like Jesus. We need to change the way that we think about each other. There needs to be a love and a respect and a trust and the attitude of a servant rise up in our hearts toward one another. If we will not, then we are worse than the unbelievers who never even bothered to respond to the Spirit of God or His message, because we are saying that the greatest gift of God, the Holy Ghost, can't change us so that we can be in unity and harmony with one another!

If we are to have a harvest of souls saved like we desire, then the church must be able to accommodate and provide the environment for the fourth element of people's relationship with God. God will fill them with His Spirit and breathe the breath of life into them. The church building is here and services are being held where they can experience God and be sheltered from this world. We will continue to spread the table and allow God's Spirit to move in worship service and preach the Word of God so that they will be able to spiritually eat. But what about the family? What kind of church family will they find? Will it be a "family of doubt?" A "family of gossips?" A family of suspicious and bitter people? Or will they find that the church is as God designed and is the "household of faith!" Us drawing closer together is the key to the harvest that God is in us. God wants to give us a revival, but it is truly "all in the family!"