A Growing Family
Oftentimes, I start my talks for students with a game. Sometimes it is a game like “Simon says” and then I tie it to following the Lord through His Word, or perhaps it will be a game that you have to have a partner to play and I remind students the necessity of Christian community. Regardless of the game, students always want to know one thing…
Who won the game?!
What if I had said, “Christine wins!” Growing up, my youth pastor always claimed that he was the winner of our games. At first it was frustrating for me because I am so competitive, but as I’ve grown up I’ve realized that he had a reason for it. Robbie declared himself the winner because he didn’t want the game to impact our relationships with one another in a negative way. He didn’t want us to think ‘Oh it’s us versus them, it’s me versus you’. The 8th grade boys especially were the ones who would get overly competitive.
My cousin Alex was one of those 8th grade boys, he always wanted to be the winner. But because Robbie was the declared winner of each game, we could all play alongside of each other without wanting to tear others down. There didn’t have to be a divide, instead we could be close to one another. Oftentimes we wonder what it looks like to be close to God, or how to take steps to be close to Him, and the answer is a simple fact: God wants to be close to you. We will read what Paul says about God coming to be close to His people from Ephesians 2:11-22, so let’s get some context. What was the difference between a Gentile and a Jewish person? The Jewish people were God’s chosen people, descendants of Abraham and Israel. They were “God’s people” who submitted themselves under the law God gave His people during their history in the wilderness. Gentiles were simply everyone else, people who had not acknowledged the God of Israel as the one true God. Understanding the difference of these people is a key part of understanding this passage.
Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
(Ephesians 2:11-13)
What are the five conditions of those who were not Jewish people? Seperated, excluded from the blessings, left out of the promises, not having any hope, and without God in the world. These sound pretty serious for the Gentiles. But it’s the reality of all of us who do not have a personal relationship with God. Those of us who do not believe in Jesus today are still like this- without hope, without God’s presence in their lives, without a future full of blessings. Ultimately, all of us were far away from God. In the first part of this chapter, we see that we are all dead in our sin, but because of God’s love and mercy we can be made alive again. In this section, Paul is talking to those who do believe in Jesus and are therefore being brought close to Him. How does it say we received that blessing? God has brought us near to Himself by the blood of His son. God wants to be close to you.
For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
(Ephesians 2:14-16)
Sin caused a separation in our lives. We built these walls up, we put distance between ourselves and others, between ourselves and God. But God who is rich and mercy and love (as Eph. 2 reads), wanted to be close to us! So He sent His perfect Son Jesus, who was both fully God and fully man. He created a way for us to be connected to God, and he created a way for us to no longer be separated from others.
The first line represents the separation our sin caused between us and God
The second line represents the separation our sin caused between us and others
The lines together form a cross where God allowed Jesus to sacrifice Himself so that we would no longer be separated because of our sin
He did this by living the perfect life, obeying all of the Jewish laws and giving Himself as a sacrifice for all of the sins from back then and even for the sins we will commit later in life. If you are wondering, but how can I be close to Jesus when He’s in heaven? I’m glad you are wondering that because Paul answered,
“He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.”
(Ephesians 2:17-18)
It is through God’s Holy Spirit that we can daily have a relationship with our God who is ever present. The gospel isn’t just for those of us who were good kids, it’s for everyone who will believe it. God offers all the blessings that he promised to Abraham’s descendants to anyone who will believe in Him and what He did on the cross for us. When we believe, we become part of a family.
Are families perfect? Why are they important? My cousin Alex and I often would get teased growing up that we were boyfriend and girlfriend simply because we knew each other. So, at some point in our lives we just started acting like strangers. When he would get overly competitive at youth group I would pretend like I didn’t know him. We were playing a game and he got tackled and started crying- I ignored it. I didn’t want people to know that we were part of the same family. But the truth was, we were not strangers. We were family.
When you become a believer, you become part of God’s family. Some of your family members will be annoying to you, they might be overly competitive, or gossipy, they may be mean- but even in their sin they are still your family. When you are part of God’s family God doesn’t look at your sins, He sees the cross, and views you as holy. He wants us to come closer to Him even as we grow closer to others within our family.
So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
(Ephesians 2:19-22)
Alex and I didn’t always want to be related, but I am so grateful that we are. Being Alex’s cousin has helped me learn so much about myself (my pride, my competitiveness), it has taught me what it looks like to be loved by someone who is quite different from me. And one of the things I am most grateful for about being Alex’s cousin is that through knowing Alex, I have gotten to know my dad better. It made me know my dad better. Seeing the way my dad loves his nephew, the way they bond over college football, and high school wrestling. I get to see a side of my dad that I never would have known if not for being part of Alex’s family.
God’s family is full of sinners turned into saints through Jesus. We build our family upon the rock of God’s love. We do not have to compete with one another, because Jesus has already won! We are no longer strangers, we are family. Those of us who believe in Jesus grow closer to God even through our relationship with the church. God wants to draw you to Himself through the power of cross, don’t you want to be part of this growing family?
If you’re looking for practical steps to grow closer to God as part of His family consider the following:
Spend time in prayer (try using the journal where you write out your prayers of thanksgiving, lament, and more)
Have conversations with other believers about who God is to them (ask them questions about their walk with God)
Listen to worship music (I personally love Christian artists like Hulvey and Lecrae)
Read His Word (try reading the whole gospel of Mark! It’s full of fast paced stories)
Participate in your local church (join a small group or attend a Sunday school class)
