The Family of God
By Pastor Matt Black
13 May
2007
Lord's Day morning
Ephesians 3:14-15
Introduction: Open your Bibles to the book of Ephesians. I do not know how far I’ll get in this message. I have a message prepared for tonight that I really would like to preach called “The Glory is the Lord’s”, but I may not get through this message. We’ll see if I can do it this morning! Pray that God will lift my words from this page to your heart and for great liberty in the Spirit.
Well, it is Mother’s Day. Aren’t you glad this morning for the mother God gave you? We thank God for the families we came from. And yet as good as your family may be, it doesn’t compare to the most important family in the world! This morning our theme is about the greatest family in the world: “The Family of God.” I am really excited about this message this morning, because I believe it is going to give every one here hope and joy and maybe even for some it will bring a new perspective. We’ll be looking specifically at Ephesians 3:14-15 this morning, but let’s read all the way to verse 19. Ephesians 3:14-19. Paul says, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
This morning we’re going to ask ourselves two questions:
v First, what is the family of God?
o It’s a Super Big family!
o It’s a Supernatural family!
v Then, what makes the family of God so special?
o There is a Family Language: Prayer!
o There is a Family Likeness: Christ in us!
o There is the Family’s Location: heaven and earth!
o There is a Family Love: God so loved the world!
o There is a Family Legacy: the Name above all names!
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I. What is the Family of God?
A. It’s a Super BIG family! [Definition].
Do not measure the God’s family by what you see with your eyes. You see only a small body of believers this morning. But need to remember that a great host of believers has already made it safely to heaven, and when we are all together on the last day, there will be “a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues” (Revelation 7:9).
The family of God is bigger than just you and me. It’s bigger than Tabernacle Baptist Church or all the churches in the world. Aren’t you glad we’re not alone?! The family of God is made up of all real believers of all time—it’s called in our text “the whole family in heaven and earth”. In the end God’s church is not divided between Old Testament and New Testament believers. In heaven we are not divided between Jew or Gentile, male or female, but we are “one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). We are “the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven” (Hebrews 12:23). So this is the church of God of all time, from every people, tongue, and nation. Listen, the family of God is not divided by language, culture, or color of skin! We are all “one in Christ Jesus!” This includes all Holy Spirit filled believers from all ages—from Adam until Jesus comes again. We are a called out people! In other places in Scripture we as the family of God are called “the elect of God”—the “household of faith”--the “body of Christ”—“the bride of Christ”—the “Living Temple”—the “sheep that never perish”—this is the final redeemed Church, “without spot or wrinkle”—the final number of believers that God brings to perfect holiness in the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. This is the group of called out people that will be resurrected on the Last Day to meet the Lord in the air.
You might ask, how do I get into this family?
B. It’s a Super-Natural family! Membership in "the family of God," does not depend on any earthly relationship. It does not come by your physical, or natural birth, but by a supernatural birth-a new birth. Preachers cannot impart it to their hearers. Parents cannot give it to their children. You may be born in the godliest family in America, and grow up under the strongest preaching any church can supply, and yet never belong to the family of God. You see, Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). No one but the Holy Spirit can make you a living member of this family. It is His special function and prerogative to bring into the true Church all those who will be saved. Those who are born again are born, "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:13).
II. What makes the family of God so special?
A. There is a Family Language: Prayer! Paul said, “I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named”. When Paul wanted to show the oneness we have as the family of God—he assures them that he speaks the same language! One of the most common activities of Christians is that we pray for one another. We worship God privately and together.
1. Prayer for the Christian is both automatic and deliberate.
a. Automatic. A Christian is one who “prays without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
As J.C. Ryle has said:
“A habit of prayer is one of the surest marks of a true Christian. All the children of God on earth are alike in this respect. From the moment there is any life and reality about their religion, they pray. Just as the first sign of life in an infant when born into the world is the act of breathing, so the first act of men and women when they are born again is praying. This is one of the common marks of all the elect of God. “They [God’s elect] cry day and night unto him” (Luke 18:7). The Holy Spirit, who makes them new creatures, works in them the feeling of adoption, and makes them cry, ‘Abba, Father’ (Romans 8:15)…. It is as much a part of their new nature to pray as it is of a child to cry. They see their need of mercy and grace. They fell their emptiness and weakness. They cannot do otherwise than they do. They must pray.”
b. Deliberate.
Matthew 6:6, “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.”
2. Prayer for the Christian is both humbling and uplifting.
a. Humbling. We read in the Beatitudes:
Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.” Is your soul cast down? Go to God! Are you burdened and heavy laden? Jesus says, “Come unto me!”. Prayer is humbling because you cannot go to God with sin in your life. Psalm 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:” We have to be humbled every moment we walk with the Lord because “God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble” (1 Peter 5:5). When we come to God we must say:
Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
We must ask the question of Psalm 24:3-4, “Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.”
We must lift up our voice to heaven and beg the Lord, “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10)
Listen, the love of God is great toward you—He wants you in fellowship with Him. I want you to hear the love of God this morning. The heart of God cannot dwell with iniquity. He is too pure, His eyes are too clean than to behold iniquity. A prayer life cannot be maintained while listening to God’s name taken in vain, while all manner of curse words and immorality come from the TV into your heart. A prayer life cannot be maintained while you are living against your conscience. You have to put off the old man and put on the new and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. That’s life in the family of God!
It is a sad thing to see a prayerless Christian. God says if you are a prayerless Christian, you will not remain so for very long. You see, “he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6). God will always bring you back into communion with Him if you are His child. There is a stubbornness in all of us that we must constantly yield to the Lord, or it will overcome us for a time! Let’s keep our hearts humble in prayer! Prayer is humbling!
But the whole purpose of prayer is not to keep you down, it is to lift you up!!
b. Uplifting. You see, when you pray, you humble yourself, and God lifts you up. James tells us “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up” (James 4:10). If you are overwhelmed with worry and doubt over your life—the answer is not to rid yourself of the circumstances, but let God carry your circumstances, and live a life that is uplifted by prayer. Philippians 4:6, “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”
There is no trial too great that God can not right now give you relief! You don’t need for God to take the trial away, you simply need to understand that God is in control and trust Him. And that brings us to our next point.
3. Prayer for the Christian includes both submission and empowerment.
a. Submission. The Christian simply wants the Lordship of Jesus to rule his life. He finds himself constantly praying, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
b. Empowerment. Prayer will empower you. It will keep you from sin. Prayer and sin cannot live together. Either prayer will quench and crush sin in your life or sin will quench and crush prayer. But there is power in prayer! I once heard a preacher say something and I’ve never forgotten it. He said, “No prayer” And the congregation said, “no power”. He said, “Little prayer”. And the congregation said, “little power.” Again he said, “Much prayer.” With the reply, “Much power”. Let’s try that!
Do you believe that whatever you ask in Jesus’ name it shall be done unto you? “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Matthew 7:7). We “have not because” we “ask not” (James 4:2).
Can I ask you a question? Is your life endued with power? Is there a spiritual quality to your life that carries you above this world at times? You may get down and out for a time, but you find yourself in your heart giving yourself to God again and finding power in His presence? We as believers need to “pray without ceasing” and we will find the power of God without ceasing also! Our holiness and power in living the Christian life will be in direct proportion to our giving of ourselves to God in communion and fellowship with Him. You will not have power if you have pride.
B. There is a Family Likeness: Christ in us! Christ is in you if you are part of the family of God. You are His body. You are His hands and His feet in this world.
John reminds us in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” But we don’t have to wait to be like him! Every day you should be more and more resembling the Lord Jesus.
Romans 8:28-29, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
C. There is a Family Location. “heaven and earth”.
Remember, two places, and only two, contain the family of God. The Bible tells us of no third habitation. There is no such thing as Purgatory, despite what some may falsely teach! There is no house of purifying, training, or probation for those who are not true Christians when they die. Oh no! Two places, and only two!
Some of God's family are safe in heaven. They are at rest in that place which the Lord Jesus expressly calls “Paradise” (Luke 23:43) They have finished their course. They have fought their battle. They have finished their appointed work. They have learned all that God wanted them to learn on earth. They have taken up their cross and followed Jesus ‘till the end. They have passed through the waves of this wicked world and have reached the harbor, and by God’s grace were kept unspotted from the world. They are no longer troubled by sin and temptation. They have said goodbye forever to finances and anxiety, to pain and sickness their broken body. They will never cry again for God has wiped away all tears from their eyes!
Some of God's family are still on the earth. They are scattered everywhere in the midst of a world, a few in one place and a few in another. All are following Jesus according to the grace that is working in them. We are running the race, doing the work He has left us to do, fighting the good fight of faith, daily taking up our cross, striving and fighting and battling against indwelling sin, resisting the devil, crucifying the flesh, struggling against the world, witnessing for Christ.
We are many times week, but we are regularly reading the Word, and praying, as feeble as it may be at times, there is life in our souls!! We look at our hearts and see that though there are failures and falls, there is a steadfastness in our souls. We are may stumble and fall and even be taken in from time to time by the traps of the devil, but we are longing to be with the saints on the other side—in the heavenly city!
So there are two parts to God’s family—one on earth, and one in heaven. Yet, though we are geographically divided, we are one in Christ, one in destiny and eternal possessions, and one in our relation to God. Listen, though the saints on earth are not in heaven yet, God’s family, whether on earth or in heaven, are equally safe and secure. As wonderful as this may sound, it is true. Christ cares as much for His family members on earth as His family members in heaven. You might as well think to pluck the stars out of heaven, as to pluck one saint, however feeble, out of Christ's hand.
D. There is a Family Love: It is the Father’s love that draws us to Christ. He will not fail in bringing lost sinners to himself. God so loved the world (John 3:16).Those He saves, He will save perfectly. He will not fail. He cannot lose even one sheep. Dear, dear beloved child of God. Listen to me as I tell you of the Father’s love for you.
It is so great that even when you were yet in your sins—like the lost, prodigal son far away from home, you had gone astray—turning to your own way—wasting your substance on riotous living. But the Father’s love for you was pulsating for you even when you were in your sins. It was in your sins that the Father sent His only begotten Son as a ransom for all your sins. It was the Father’s everlasting love that sent the Holy Spirit down into your heart to open your eyes, to bring you to your right mind, to shed His love abroad in your heart.
1. A love for God. Consuming. God is a consuming fire! The first thing that happens when you enter the family of God is you are filled up with the Spirit of God! Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, and strength!
2. There is a love for God’s people. You can always tell a true Christian by his love for other Christians. Bro. Marion and I were at the hospital just after Vincent went into surgery. There we saw a man reading the Bible. Immediately, we asked if he was a brother in the Lord. Though we had never met him before, it was like meeting a long lost brother. That’s how the family of God is. Love for God’s people is so strong. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). If Christianity could be summarized into one word, it would be: love!
3. Love for the lost! Matthew 25. As a member of God’s family you are Christ’s hands and feet and eyes and heart in this world. You go to the high ways and byways and compel them to come! You do unto the least of the
4. There is a love for God’s Word. Psalm 119:97, “O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.” Now the Word of God is not like any other book. The reason it changes people’s lives is because when you read it, you know it is God’s voice talking to you. No other book in the history of man has done this. There is a real love for God’s Word among all true believers. You see the Word of God has the answer for every single one of life’s questions. Now it’s not going to tell you where you should park your car at Wal-mart or what color shirt you should buy. But it will give you the wisdom you need to live out the foundational principles of life and godliness. Essentially, the Bible teaches us how to please God and enjoy Him.
You know what is amazing? The Bible has always made sense of a person’s life no matter how messed up that life was. Because the Word of God is “quick [alive] and powerful” and “sharper than any two edged sword”. You see it can bring life and cut right into the hardest and most difficult situations.
Christians love God’s Word, because the Word of God has the power to wash away bad thinking! It has the power bring faith in the most discouraging of situations. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17)
The Bible says the goodness of God leads us to repentance! Oh, do you believe this morning that God can melt the hardest heart of stone? Do you believe that God never lies? He says He’ll take away the heart of stone and give us a tender heart of flesh. The love of God can break the hardest heart.
E. There is a Family Legacy: the Name above all names!
1. This family has an amazing Fame. We are named after the Name that is above all names. What a family! Jesus Name above all names! Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord! Oh, the fame of Jesus name will be praised for all eternity. You and I have the humbling and awesome privilege to bear that family name. Wear it carefully. Wear it with great humility and honor. Lift up the Name of Jesus Christ with your life! “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
2. This family has an amazing Fortune.
Right now we see only part of the family which is struggling on earth, but the family of God is far richer and exalted than you can even imagine. God has called us out of this sin-cursed earth to sanctify us and make us worshippers of Himself. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:32). “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills. All the gold is His and the silver is all His! And he is a God that came to save! And what a multitude of people that are in His family! Believe me, it is no small thing to belong to the “whole family in heaven and on earth.”
3. This family has an amazing Future! There is such uncertainty in the world. No one knows what is going to happen to any one of us. Daily families are broken up because of death, None of us knows for sure “what a day may bring forth,”
Here on earth we as God’s children may be tempted, tried, and tossed about with storms of life. There are many days when we are burdened under heavy loads of trials and suffering and even confusion. But remember this saint of God: not one of God’s children will perish. Jesus said of His sheep, “they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.” (John 10:28).
Listen brethren, there is coming a day in our future when the whole family of God in heaven and in earth shall be united. I’m waiting for that last trumpet! As 1 Corinthians 15:51ff says, “we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” Death loses in the end for every child of God. Death is an entrance into eternal life. Listen to the words of Jesus in John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.”
Listen, in the end, it will not have mattered where you have lived or where you have died. You may be laid to rest in a cemetery down the street. Other Christians have been buried on every continent. But when the trumpet sounds, the dead in Christ shall rise! Those in heaven shall meet those on earth in the air! What a family reunion we have coming! On that day we will all gathered together from north and south, and east and west. All the saints of all the ages will be united, never to part again. In our earthly families we always have to say goodbye. A son goes to college. A daughter gets married and moves away. We always have to say goodbye. But there’s coming a day when we will never say goodbye again. We are going to have an eternal family reunion!
Conclusion: If you are part of the family of God today, look at all your trials and heart aches and compare them with the glory that will follow. There is coming a day when all of these things will be left behind. Be thankful! If you are poor and struggling in your finances, think of all the riches that are yours in Christ. Remember, though our earthly possessions break and fall apart, you have something that is yours forever more. Sickness and poverty cannot take it away! Our families on earth will very soon pass away. In twenty years, xome of the faces we see here will have gone to be with Jesus. Some will move away. Some of you will move before this year is out. But there is coming an eternal family reunion in heaven!
I would like to close with a simple but serious question, Do you really belong to the family of God? Are you going to be a part of that family reunion?
I’m asking if you belong to the family of God now. I’m not asking whether you are a Baptist or a Catholic or a Presbyterian. I’m not asking if you’ve been baptized or said a prayer. I am asking if you have a relationship to the heavenly father that satisfies and saves your soul. A religion will not save you, but a relationship with God through Jesus Christ will teach you how to live in peace and die with joy and hope! To have such peace and hope you must be something more than a church member. You must belong to "the family of God."
If you do not yet belong to God’s family, I want to invite you to become a part of God’s family today. Open your eyes to see that you have an eternal soul—you will live forever somewhere. You need to see that you are in absolute danger, and you need an amazing transformation in your life. Look right now to Jesus Christ. He is waiting to save your soul. It is that simple. You don’t need to figure it out. You don’t have to wait one minute. Look to Christ. See how He loves you, lived for you, died for you, risen again for you, and paid the debt of your sin completely for you. He offers you a free, full, immediate pardon. He’ll take away all your sins and exchange it with His own righteousness if you will only believe in Him. Come and commit your soul to His keeping this day.
Closing Hymn: When we all get to Heaven