The Family Of God And Our Responsibility
I was reminiscing this past week about my calling into ministry. I was 23 years old at the time and had been contemplating on several different options to choose for a direction and career. The Lord spoke to my heart one night and shared with me a passage of scripture and confirmation of the direction He was calling me to go. The scripture that God called me to was Matthew 12:46-50, which says, [While He was still speaking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. And someone said to Him, behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You. But He answered the one who was telling Him and said, "Who is my mother and who are My brothers?" And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother."]
I am often reminded how much God considers His church as His Family. As Christians, we tend to forget this important principle, that God considers His people as a family, the Body of Christ. We especially have this problem when we prioritize our agenda over everyone else’s. In the world we can expect to see this kind of friction and opposition between people who disagree over opinions, ideas, and priorities of importance. But God is telling us that our relationships as Christians are not temporary, they are eternal! Just like in our natural family, when the head of the household looks out for his entire family, to protect them, defend them, and serve them with their best interest in mind, so too, as Christians, God expects us to be living together and serving each other the same way. In the world, and in it’s system, we can expect to see the attitude; “you do your thing and I’ll do my thing”. Naturally, this is certainly not the attitude a Christian family should have. The apostle Paul nipped this kind of mentality in the bud when he addressed the church in Philippi, saying: “Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”[Philippians 2:4] When we walk in the flesh we will always want to do things our own way, and we will tend to only see things our way.
Years ago, when I was pastoring my first church, with my teenage son and daughter, I experienced a problem between the Family of God (church member family) and my own personal family (son and daughter). One of the church families who were members of the church I pastored had been saying some hurtful words about my 14-year-old daughter.
I had been dealing with the problem by communicating with the opposing family and being as discreet and loving in the Lord as I could be. When my 16 year old son found out about some of the details of what the opposing family had said he decided to take the matter into his own hands, without my knowledge or consent. I received a phone call one afternoon from the opposing family with an accusation against me, asking, “What are you doing, sending your son down here to our house with a gang?” Evidently, my son had communicated with a local gang and asked for their help to solve our family problem. I took control of the situation by asking “Has my son or the gang done anything offensive to anyone?” The reply was no. So I told the person I was talking to, “Please tell my son that I said for him to come home”. I found out later, by someone who had witnessed the incident, that when my son showed up at the offending families home, he addressed them by saying, “You can mess with my father, you can mess with my mother, but DO NOT MESS WITH MY SISTER!” As you can imagine, any parent would be proud of their child for defending their sibling. A part of me was proud, as a parent, that my son (Joshua) stood up for his sister. However, I couldn’t convey that thought to my son at the time because of the way that he went about trying to solve the problem, the wrong way, and I didn’t want to condone his wrong doing. Also, I am sharing this story because it is in these kinds of situations that when the matter seems like we are right we tend to forget about the fact that God loves that opposing Christian family also.
Every family has a sense of defending their loved ones. But there is a similar principal and family structure, (within a right relationship with God and His Word,) that God expects us to have for our church family. Jesus put it this way, ["This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends".](John 15:12-13). Realistically, we will probably never in our lifetime have to lay down our life for a church member. But we will have opportunity to serve one another, sacrificially, in love as our spiritual family. There will also always be situations and circumstances in a church where we disagree with our brothers and sisters. This is nothing uncommon to man. It will always be a problem that we will face at times, in the church and outside of the church.. But we have God’s Word and His Spirit to direct and guide us through these times of difficulty that we might face with our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. The apostle Paul gives us the antidote for this problem when he says in Philippians 2:3; “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself.” I don’t know about you, but I have to check in with God sometimes and ask him “Am I regarding this person as more important than myself?” If I regard the person as “my family” it will be much easier to regard them as more important than myself, because my intentions will be for their benefit and not my own. God’s word says, “Bear one another’s burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
I’ll close with the words of Jesus in regard to His Family, and our responsibility, found in Matthew 25:40; ["And the King will answer and say to them, "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me."]
Pastor John
Bible Verse Memory Plan
Week #1 – The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my stronghold. I called to the Lord who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. Psalm 18:2-3 NIV
Week #2 – Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrow: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquiteds: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53: 4-5 KJV
Week #3 – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31 NIV
Week #4 – Go ye therefore, and teach all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. Matthew 28: 19-20 KJV
Week #5 – “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:25-26 NIV
Bless us Lord, this Christmas, with quietness of mind, teach us to be patient and always to be kind. Helen Steiner Rice
Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind, to cherish. Peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas! Calvin Coolidge
The only blind person at Christmas is he who has not Christmas in His heart. Helen Keller
Christmas Prayer
Loving Father, help us to remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men.
Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift, and good desires with every greeting. Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.
May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake. Amen!
—Robert Louis Stevenson
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Sunday School – 8:30 AM in the Community Building
Choir Practice Every Thursday at 1pm
You may reach Pastor John at #607-651-4760 or at his.ship@gmail.com
Bill’s Kids Christmas Mission –ends on today, Sunday, December 1st. If anyone would like to give a monetary donation, there is a jar in the foyer, or you may write a check to The Children’s Home and give to Bonne Travis. Thank you!
Sunday, December 8th – Church Service at Barnes Kasson / SNF at 3pm – if you would like to help, please see Pastor John.
Sunday, December 8th – 2nd Sunday in Advent
Sunday, December 8th – 8:30 am – Sunday School Bible Study.…”The Coming Golden Age”, 31 Ways to be Kingdom ready, by Dr. David Jeremiah. We will be learning from video presentations and study guide group discussion questions about the impending thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ on this planet. It’s the epoch between our Lord’s return to this planet and the onset of the new heaven and new earth of the eternal age. ALL ARE WELCOME! This is a series that allows self study, if you need a flexible schedule.
Tuesday, December 10th – Ladies Christmas Tea at the Montrose Bible Conference - Christmas music, devotional thought with a speaker, light lunch, assortment of seasonal goodies and teas. 11am to 1pm. PW will be paying for each lady. Please Bonne Travis know if you would like to attend.
Thursday, December 12th– PW Meeting / Luncheon – 11am
Sunday, December 15th- 3rd Sunday in Advent
Wednesday, December 18th – Men’s Breakfast & Meeting – 8am
Saturday, December 21st – 7pm – Annual Christmas party at the home of Jim & Jan Kessler. All are welcome.
Saturday, December 21st – First Day of Winter
Sunday, December 22nd -4th Sunday in Advent
Tuesday, December 24th – Christmas Eve Service
Wednesday, December 25th – Merry Christmas!!!
Tuesday, December 31st – Newsletter Deadline
Tuesday, December 31st – New Years Eve / Watch Night
Wednesday, January 1st –Happy New Year
Rev. Mahalo has been busy making ambitious plans for their school. He has sent me blueprints for their expanded campus. One of the poor people that they took in, a few years ago, turned out to be a landowner and had willed his small farm to Rev Malaho. That land is where they had built the school. They also have a vegetable garden and a fish farm (pond), and a pig sty. The new plan includes a two story school building, administration building, nurses clinic, and athletic field. I have questions about the timetable and financing, but they have long term plans. Rev Malaho has been denied a visa for this year but he was told to reapply next year again. He says that the visa rules are subject to change with a new administration in Washington. Therefore he will try again to visit Penna in summer of 2025. He asks for prayers to make that happen. by Jim Kessler
