In August we will be starting a sermon series looking at the many images the Bible uses for 'the church'. Some include the gathering, the body, the flock, the building and the bride. But it is the image of 'the family' that expresses the closeness of the relationships we ought to experience in the church.
The church isn't a business, a corporation or even just a community organisation. We're brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus is our older brother, and we are all children of our Heavenly Father.
I found this quote from Megan Hill helpful,
'In biblical terms, the people in the pews around us are our family. Like the members of our biological family, we haven’t chosen them for ourselves, but they have been chosen for us, and we are therefore inseparably bound to them. Because we belong to Christ, we belong to his family.'
We see this expressed by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 2:19-20,
'Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.'
So this Sunday afternoon as we gather for our AGM, we're having a family meeting. A meeting of brothers and sisters gathered together by God through the good news about Jesus. And we meet so that we can express our ownership and responsibility in the mission we share - to continue to see the family increase and mature as it is built on the foundation of God's word with Jesus as the cornerstone.
I look forward to seeing you there.
Grace and Peace
Andrew