Family of God No.2 Responsibilities

All right, silence in all your care. Pray to the vast, sweet, deep and fair. Never a word that we cannot bear.

♪ Jesus hath put everything aside ♪ ♪ With that he hath subdued it all ♪ ♪ How I should use the fire of death ♪ ♪ Till all the sky is clear ♪ ♪ Take from us those who stray and trespass ♪ ♪ And let our honor, the beauty of thy feet ♪ ♪ Refuel the heat of our years of sinning ♪ ♪ And let our hearts be filled with joy ♪ And let's read together a chapter of scripture which is not often read from the New Testament. Paul's epistle to the Romans in chapter 16. Here is this great apostle writing a letter.

It's a longer letter than you and I generally write but then he's a lot to say. He's also got a lot of friends and he writes to them in an exceedingly friendly fashion. So let's listen to Paul just making comment about his friends, shall we? Romans 16, I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant or deaconess of the church in Centuria.

I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and to give her any help she may need from you for she has been a great help to many people including me. Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. They risked their lives for me, not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.

Greet also the church that meets at their house. Greet my dear friend Epinetus who was the first convert to Christ in the province of Asia. Greet Mary who worked very hard for you.

Greet Andronicus and Junius, my relatives who have been in prison with me. They are outstanding amongst the apostles and they were in Christ before I was. Greet Ampliatus whom I love in the Lord.

Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ and my dear friend Starchus. Greet Apolles, tested and approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.

Greet Herodian, my relative. Greet those in the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord. Greet Trifina and Trifosa, those women who work hard in the Lord.

Greet my dear friend Persis, another woman who has worked very hard in the Lord. Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord and his mother who has been a mother to me too. Greet Asencritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrabas, Hermas and the brothers with them.

Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister and Olympus and all the saints with them. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.

Amen. Now let's go back to what we were looking at last week from the word of God. And that was from the epistle of Paul to the Ephesians where in the third chapter of Paul repeats a prayer the substance of which you find also in the first chapter.

The 14th verse of the third chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesians presents us with a picture of the apostle kneeling in his cell. He's not on some holiday retreat, some Christian center in Switzerland. He's in some damp dungeon possibly in Rome on his own apart from the Roman centurion keeping an eye on him.

And yet he's not alone and neither are you alone whoever you are, whatever your circumstances if you trust the Lord Jesus as your savior for his presence can become so very, very real throughout the hours of every day. And so he says this in his cell appreciating the presence of the heavenly father for this reason I kneel before the father from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. The latter expression is the one we focus in on.

From whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. It's good sometimes my Christian brothers and sisters to reflect on the concept not just of the fatherhood of God but the logical deduction from that premise. The family of God.

Now you and I if we acknowledge that the Lord Jesus is the savior, if we've confessed our sins then we fall into that category. It's the most wonderful compliment that any preacher can ever give to his congregation to tell them that they are, to remind them that they are the family of God. But for reasons I tried to substantiate last week and I do implore you if you are not present perhaps to get hold of the tape to give you some background to the deductions that I'm now bringing through without proving them once again.

I did endeavor to show last week that if you come to this verse of scripture with a popular understanding of the word family then you will do an injustice to the apostle Paul and your grasp of what it means to be part of a family in biblical times will be utterly inadequate. I tried to show you how the modern concept of the family in terms of mother, father and children is a relatively new idea. It traces its history back to the industrial revolution.

It does not trace its history back to the heart of British history neither does it trace its history back to the New Testament or Old Testament. When you look into the Bible and it's the Bible that should define the categories in which the authors speak that is to say when the authors of a biblical book use a word you must go to the context of the total book to understand that word. You cannot bring your definition of family in the 20th century use of that word to the Bible.

You must go to the Bible and allow it to define what it means by this term. And in the Old and New Testament as I've substantiated the concept of family was the extended family, the clan, the household. It's perhaps best illustrated those of you who were present and have good recall will bring this to the forefront of your mind in the story of the prodigal son.

You remember how I tried to give you a different picture, a different understanding of that parable from which perhaps you had grasped at that point. I tried to show you that it wasn't just a village made up of differing people. It was a family village.

That is still the case in many of the Arab villages out in Jordan, out in the Middle East to this day. Cousins are there, second cousins are there. It was very much a family household, the family village.

And what happened in the family was known throughout the whole of the household. Now this I'm arguing, you see, when you come to the New Testament and you work your way through the Acts of the Apostles, you discover that households are referred to frequently. The household of Cornelius, Acts chapter 10.

The household of Lydia and the Philippian jailer, Acts chapter 16. And as you make your way through the reading of the Acts of the Apostles and on into the epistles, you begin to have this understanding that that is how the writer of the letters used the term family and it was the picture that they held at the forefront of their mind when they thought of the church. The church, the called out company of God, for that's what the church really means, is synonymous with the word family as used in Scripture.

Now one of the most blessed doctrines that there is in this book is the doctrine of adoption. The saddest text in my mind in the whole of the New Testament is discovered in the first chapter of John's Gospel. Speaking of our Lord Jesus, he came unto his own but his own did not receive him.

The Jews rejected him. But to as many as received him, some Jews but largely Gentiles as the future became the present and moved into history, the expansion of the early church which was basically amongst non-Jewish people. To those who received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God.

My good friend Len Bickerton reminded us earlier today of often the superior language of the authorized version of the Bible. And there is a very good illustration of that in the opening verses of Ephesians when the Apostle Paul in the language of the AV refers to Christian people such as you and me as those who are accepted in the beloved. I think that's verse six in the AV.

The NIV, it's more neutral. It's less colorful. But the idea is this, that through the Lord Jesus Christ, you and I have been made sons of God.

He had the authority to do this, you see. And that's the first thing you are to learn about the family of God. It consists of all those who've been adopted into the family circle through the Lord Jesus.

God's own son was the beloved one. We're accepted in his love. Now it was said of the Lord Jesus, if you like our elder brother, that's a biblical term though you can misuse it by not giving the Lord Jesus all the honor that's due to his name.

He's more than just our brother but he is our elder brother. It was said of the Lord Jesus, by the Father, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Now here's the challenge.

If you and I, and you followed my reasoning and I can't be any more simple than I have been thus far, at least I have no more simple words. If Jesus Christ is our elder brother and we are his brothers, his sisters so to speak, the challenge is when God the Father looks down from high heaven upon this company of people that assemble together at a church conveniently called Worthing Tabernacle, does he ever say, that is my beloved family in whom I am well pleased? You see any good family has a family spirit. Every good family has a family name.

That was the disgrace of the prodigal, not so? That was the reason why he was so timid, so fearful about returning to the family home because he'd let father down and he was scared of the reaction of the younger brother and the rest of the relatives. There was a family name you see and he had disgraced. And now likewise there is a family name.

There is a family spirit that must exist upon the companies of God's people who form in aggregate all together the great international family of God in the world. In other words the church, that we are part of that great family. Then to what extent does the heavenly father say of you my brother and sister, all of us together, that group of people who meet in the center of Worthing, they are my beloved family in whom my heart delights.

What sort of spirit is to percolate the Christian family? Well the same spirit as comes from the father before whom Paul is kneeling. You see most family descendants have some trace of their ancestor. I'll put it perhaps less clumsily.

Do you look like your dad or your mum? That's one of the first things they say of little babies. He looks like his dad. Actually I can't tell the difference between one baby and another but that's sort of my masculine insensitivity.

I love them but in a crowd I have difficulty in spotting one from the other. But there are family characteristics, are there not? And they become more obvious as time gets on. She's just like a mother.

She's just like a dad as the case may be. Are we coated with, impregnated with that same generous spirit as the heavenly father has and illustrated in sending his son into the world. You see the Christian family in the New Testament was one which was exceedingly generous.

The apostle Paul, you don't need to check these verses but those who work through the tape later on I'll give the references so they can comfortably and at their leisure look them through. In Philippians 4.16 he says of the family circle in Philippi, again and again you sent to my need. Is your bank balance redeemed? You can measure Christian maturity to a great degree by how sensitive they are when the subject of money is raised.

You see it's much easier to sing the doxology praise God from whom all blessings flow than what it is to work that out in terms of the holdings that you have and the finances that you control. Now do you use those, administer to those it with the same generous spirit as the father? Do you know what it is to tithe? Do you know what it is to covenant? Are all these things that you are going to do one day you know? I knew a solicitor back in the north of England a distant relative of mine, he was always advising people about making up their estates and their wills and what have you, when he died he hadn't made a will himself, utter chaos in his family. You see the poor man he thought that somehow or other they're like this in the north of England they'd harnessed immortality you know and it would happen to everyone else but not him.

He left his widow with quite a lot of work to do just resolving the thing. Now I ask you, father handles the whole area of generosity in such a mind blowing way, he gives his only begotten son the Lord loves a cheerful giver, that's what the apostle has to say in second Corinthians chapter nine and verse seven and when you give to the Lord it's an expression of thanks and worship, hallelujah, it's the offering. George Duncan says when that happens and a church rises to its feet at the point of being privileged to give, we're on course for revival.

You can ask him about that because he's coming here in January. Entry into the family through adoption, showing, demonstrating the same generous spirit as the father has shown. There's another thing that percolates the family, it's humility isn't it? There's a lovely little verse in 1 Timothy chapter five and the 10th verse where reference is made to Christian widows.

Test is given not only as to their godliness but I think the apostle would allow us to extend the test and apply it to those who are not widows. Men, younger men and women as well as older ladies. He has this to say that the renowned spiritual woman is one well known for her good deeds such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.

Do you know if we change the name of the tabernacle on one day, don't get alarmed some of you, we haven't decided to do that yet. Melody Lund, my suggestion has been thrown out. How about the fellowship of foot washers? You smile, now let me break right through your smile and show you the heart of what I mean.

The spirit of the family. He takes the towel, he takes the bowl and he washes the feet of his disciples and you can hear a pin drop because not one of them was going to elect to do the job that he was doing, that's why he did it. As I have washed your feet, says the beloved Christ, so ought you to wash one another's feet.

You see foot washing has many permutations, doesn't it? Somebody has said many would be scantily clad if clothed in their humility alone when they came to church. How are we in the ranks of humility here in the tab? Test yourself, my brother elder, deacon, Sunday school, well the Sunday school staff are away but some will hear the type. What about the way we show hospitality? You see, that's the reason why I read that list, wasn't it a delightful list, Romans 16? Did you let that list just minister to your heart? He was thanking God for Gaius, now Gaius had entertained the whole church.

You see, again, my young friends have got great difficulty in understanding Paul in the context in which he was writing because, well, the tab's been here for 90 odd years or so and similar church buildings sent Paul's beaters by a couple of hundred years. You know, we think of the church in terms of a great structure, don't we? A place where you meet together. Well, of course, that didn't exist when Paul was around.

Most of the churches were held in the homes of more wealthy Christians. And here's Gaius, he opens up his home and he gives hospitality to the people. Now, he could well afford, but not everybody could afford it as much as Gaius, and yet you discover when you read the letter to the Corinthians that those people there and the Macedonians, out of their very limited resources, gave time and time again in the area not just of finance but hospitality.

You check Paul's lists of qualifications to be a deacon and an elder in the Christian church, and on both counts, he asks for the spirit of hospitality. What does hospitality mean? Well, how about having a cup of tea with someone in your home? For starters, I mean, let's not get too extreme. But that's the beginnings, is it not? Opening home, but not just opening home to those who are already part of your immediate circle of friends, your immediate brothers and sisters.

Look, look, let me test myself and test you as well. Let's be very, very honest before one another and before God and before this word. When last, come on, forget everyone else, just you and the preacher, and he's irritating at the moment, so listen to him even more.

When last did you hunt somebody out who'd never been to your home, and you offered them something in the name of the Lord? You didn't do it like that in a sort of spiritual way, but nonetheless, that was the intention behind what you were doing. You see, this is most important, because you see, this is what Father likes. Check me if you like Acts 2, check me on Acts 5. They went from house to house.

They didn't just come together on the Lord's day, though they did that, they wanted fellowship more than just the occasional meeting on a Sunday. Ronald Sider, a man for whom I've got great respects, says this, the first day, for the early church, koinonia, that's the Greek word for fellowship, for the early Christian church, fellowship was not the frilly fellowship of church-sponsored bi-weekly outings. It was not tea and biscuits and sophisticated small talk in the fellowship hall after the sermon.

It was the unconditional sharing of their lives with other members of Christ's body. The unconditional sharing of lives. I know that some people don't want to do that.

Now, I will allow that category of person. I'm not wanting, actually, to make you feel uncomfortable, but I do want to preach, as I am bound to preach from the New Testament, as to what the church should be like in terms of a family. I know that there will be those people who are just content, particularly in a larger church community, to remain anonymous and come in on a Sunday morning or a Sunday evening or what have you.

I was saying last week, with humility, I trust, and certainly respect in my heart, that one of the things that frightened me about the multi-church congregations that there used to be in this country at the turn of the century and before was that the people were listening to addresses, fine addresses, by outstanding, eloquent men, but they were not part of church families. Next Sunday, I'll be preaching in California, and one of the reasons why I'm preaching there is because this Congress that I'm going to in Washington, one of the main speakers, when he heard that I was able to get across, asked me if I'd go and minister at his church. Now, the reason I got in touch with this man in the first instance years ago, his name was Ray Steadman, he preached here about two years back, was because he'd written a book that affected me.

His book was entitled Body Life. It's a bestseller in the States. And one of the things that he was concerned to establish was the concept in America with its mega congregations, sometimes numbering three, four, five, 10,000 people, he wanted to establish the fact that it was more than just coming together as a congregation en masse on a Sunday, which illustrates the New Testament concept of koinonia and family.

Now, as far as we're concerned, we're not confronted with 5,000, but we've got 500. Probably one of the biggest churches in the UK. It is what I'm asking for possible.

This sense of knowing, of getting to know, of loving, of caring, of sharing, of opening home. Well, it's difficult with 500, isn't it? I remember one of the most awkward things I had to do as a much younger man when I first arrived here was to get to know people. And most of you are aware of my faux pas of on one occasion being pushed more or less down the church steps saying good morning to folk and finding myself on the pavement shaking hands with people who've never even been in the church.

Talk about church with a friendly welcome. It's not easy to get to know 500. I've just about cracked it now, but it's a challenge.

But don't you see, my dear friends, one of the reasons why we split the church into little groups was to make what is impossible at the large level possible at the smaller level. Isn't it interesting that Jesus called a dozen or so men and there were ladies also in attendance. They weren't referred to as apostles, but they were disciples.

There was a traveling group, if you like, of about 30 people. They could relate to one another. Do you know when I look back on 17 years, and I'm not saying this for a fact, you know my heart, you know me more than any other congregation in the UK, has been the difficulty of trying to cope with a pastoral situation in our church.

Don't mean that we've had tremendous problems, but so many people, only one man. And the only way that we can really cope adequately is getting back to the biblical concept, as I think we have in part. This is not revolutionary that I'm preaching this morning.

It's incipient, it's part of what we've already got, but I want us to go further. It's relating together in smaller units. I'm even prepared to duck calling the prayer diary the prayer diary, because I realize it's meaningless for you to pray through 500 names, for many of those names you don't know, but at least you could get to know those who were in your own pastoral group, your own unit.

Relate to them, and let me say this to younger people, and younger marrieds, for whom I have such great love. Again, I don't say that to impress you, it remains the case. I don't just conduct a marriage service here.

Any fool can say, will you take this man, will you take this woman, so forth, Bob's your uncle, that's the marriage. I'm concerned that your marriage is successful. Concerned that you'll live your life for the honor and the glory of God.

Concerned that you don't have the drawbridge mentality against which I was preaching last week. We got the home, we're getting the wall-to-wall carpets, and so on and so forth, and that becomes a dominant factor, and God gives us a child, and it's marvelous, and so we get more and more exclusive. Oh, my friend, that's a perversion.

I speak plainly, I speak bluntly, but it is so. Now, these things are good, they're secondary blessings of God, but they're given to you to establish the primary blessing, which is what? Fellowship, opening your heart to other people, as well as maintaining that intimacy of contact that you have as husband and wife, and so on and so forth. You see, if I am wrong, if I am wrong in proclaiming that family is to be understood in terms of the clan and the household, biblically speaking, then God help the divorced people, and God help the single-parent families, and God help the widow and the widower, and they're an increasing category of people in our land, for people are beginning to live longer than they used to, and marriages are breaking more than they did break, and there's an area in Worthing, where I'm told, of a housing estate where there is not one traditional family unit intact.

Did you know that in Worthing? And if we come along and suggest to folk that family is just going to listen to a man preach a couple of addresses on a Sunday and sing some dignified hymns and one or two jolly songs, then my friend, we are not scratching where they itch, as the Americans would say. We are so unrelated to their need. We are a universe away from what the New Testament teaches as being the koinonia, the family of God.

Family love to come together, don't they? Generally speaking. You know, at a blood level, speaking of my relatives, I come from a very large family. I've got 50 cousins.

It's a fair number, isn't it? But we're not really very united at that level. I mean, they're scattered around, and some of them I haven't seen since I was a kid. And the only thing really that ever binds us together or brings us together is when there's a funeral of one of my aunts.

That's tragic, but it is the case. But you see, I do believe as a Christian, and this is no disrespect to my relatives whatsoever, that my primary family is the family of my brothers and sisters with whom I share eternity. Now, I like, by and large, to be with my relatives, but what I want here more and more is an enthusiastic desire to be with one another because we love one another, because we've got that which binds us together through our Lord Jesus.

You know, to wake up on a Sunday and to think, oh, thank God I can go to that place. Not just listen to that man, whoever's preaching that, in one sense is beside the point. I would almost say perish the idea of the celebrated preacher, because the celebrated preacher attracts the congregation just because of him, and well, when he's taken away, the congregation disintegrates.

You see, there's more to coming to church, to a church building, than listen to a man preach, and I do believe in the authority of preaching and that God speaks to us through his word. But there's a greater context than that. It's the context of koinonia, which is well illustrated by Paul in Romans 16.

Affection, a deepening affection amongst us. You see, the successful nuclear family, mom, dad, and children, gets on well because dad sometime will have to make some allowances for his children. I mean, he will remember that when he was 15 years of age, he thought he knew everything too, and that as he got older, he got increasingly ignorant because he appreciated that there was a lot more to learn.

Now, from that vantage point, you can be very humble, but remember, your 15-year-old hasn't yet clocked up the years that you have clocked, and so he's gonna come along at some stage in a very dogmatic fashion, and you'll think, ah, there it goes, me repeated some years further down the line. So what do you do? Well, you try to maintain the affection of your lad, don't you, even when you can't always agree with his preposterous views and his actions, nonetheless, you still try to be a father. You will make some modification, not in terms of your convictions, but in terms of what you will allow.

My dear brother and sister, do I need to spell this out to you? At a church family level, never, never, never, never, never, in any sense, allow your convictions to be compromised. If the man's not preaching the gospel, if the church has moved away from the New Testament position, then be objectionable, then show that you disagree with this, but if it's just within the context of secondary things within our church family fellowship, which are not a matter of conviction, but a matter of preference for which you have your right to your opinion and others have their right to their opinion, then be a good family member. I recall on one occasion some daft excuses given for people not attending church.

One couple told me their cat was sick. Seriously, I mean, it was seriously sick, but I mean, that was their excuse. Others will sometimes say, well, you know, you get those people together on a Sunday evening and I'm not quite happy about this and I'm not quite happy about that.

All right, you may not be. Let me ask you this. Are you unhappy about what is being preached? Now, if you are, then there's a problem, a very major problem indeed, and something needs to be corrected.

If you're right and the preacher's wrong. But how better to come into church and think, look, there are those young people, they wouldn't come to me, they wouldn't listen to me, but they will listen to that man. I will tolerate what isn't within my own preference for the sake of the family spirit.

That is the beginnings of maturity for some people, to realize that the church family does not just exist for them, though they have a very important part role to play and should be benefiting from the ministries. You see, we're not a fellowship of individuals in the sense that we retain our own individuality. We're a fellowship of brothers and sisters and we limp along by God's grace into his purposes, wanting to fulfill them more and more within the order, within the arena of love.

Look, I don't know if I expressed myself very well, but surely you can read my heart. Tolerance within the family circle. You see, Paul was constantly having to preach this.

I'm not sort of just going down a tangent now, bringing out some views that are precious to me. Read Paul in Corinthians. They were having a real old ball of an argument as to whether they should go down to the local Sainsbury's or not.

Because the meat was offered to idols before they actually got it, and there were some amongst the Christians who were saying, no, you shouldn't go there and shop, and there were others who said, well, the idols don't exist, so what difference does it make to the jolly meat? I mean, that's not exactly the authorized version of the Bible's language. Len Bickerton will forgive me, but at least he'll concede that I got the main point across. So Paul says, a bit of tolerance.

Don't obstruct another's freedom by the sensitivity of your own conscience in this area. Each man at that level to his own understanding. He's a sweet pastor, isn't he? He's a superb teacher.

As you would so imagine, because you see, he has kept counsel with the Lord Jesus, and the Lord Jesus is God's own son, and of the Lord Jesus it was said, behold, my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. My time has gone, and I've nearly come full circle anyway. When our Lord was on the cross, do you remember I took you there last time? He committed to John the responsibility of looking after his natural mother, and he committed to Mary, John.

Now, I do believe my understanding here is right, and correct over against Catholic theologians. I believe in one sense, my brothers and sisters, are you hearing me? The Lord Jesus commits each one of us to the care of the other, so that love exists within our fellowship, so that we show our fellowship, not in word only, by this way, says John the Apostle, you know that you have passed from death unto life, not because you signed the doctrinal statement of Worthing Tabernacle, not because you've got a degree of some university, by this, says John the Apostle of love, by this shall men know that you have passed from death to life, inasmuch as you love the brethren, and we love not in word only, says John, but indeed in action. And Paul, a masculine man, if ever there was one, and Peter, again, a man's man, when writing to the churches and to individuals, he says, greet the brethren with a loving kiss, however you translate that, whatever culture pattern you put it into, I'm not really bothered, all I do know is it means this, there is a practical demonstration of the fact that you love your brother and your sister.

And so, I rest my case. We're part of the great family of the Heavenly Father, from whom all families derive their name, and we are to show that love to each other, and perhaps take up some of the things that I've logically tried to work out as being the course down which we at the tabernacle must continue to sail. May God bless us as we attempt it, amen.

Let's sing together 162. It's really a children's song, but they're always the best. It puts the spotlight where it should go.

Jesus, good above all other, gentle child of gentle mother, give us grace to persevere. We're asking that we might reproduce the characteristics of our elder brother who so pleased the father, 162. ♪ Here for the day of healing of Jesus our Lord ♪ ♪ O'er thy people guarding ♪ ♪ Face and heart be but due ♪ ♪ O'er thy foes not cherish ♪ ♪ Love to have the truth prepare us ♪ ♪ That we know thy name is trusty ♪ ♪ Love to have the truth prepare us ♪