Let’s first look at two scriptures from the Old Testament
and then two from the New Testament.
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
In the verses above, which are from the very beginning of
the Bible in the Old Testament, we see two persons, God in verse 1 and the Holy
Spirit in verse 2.
Now, moving on to the New Testament we see a third person
emerge from the first chapter of the book of John:
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
In the above verses John refers to the beginning of the
Bible in the Old Testament, the Book of Genesis, when God started to create
heaven and earth and then man.
We see that the Word was with God at the beginning and then
that the Word became flesh and walked among us – this is Jesus.
So, when we combine the information given above; we have in John
1:1-2, 14 that Jesus was with God at the beginning (Jesus is also the
Word); with the information we have from Genesis 1:1-2, where we see
that we have God the Father and the Holy Spirit (who is the Spirit of God and
the Spirit of Jesus), it emerges that at the beginning was God, Jesus and the
Holy Spirit! This is God with His family before the creation of mankind.
Now that we’ve established God’s family before creation,
let’s now move on to the family that He established on earth as part of His
creation.
26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”
27 So God created human beings in his own image.
In the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
Genesis 2:7 (KJV)
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Genesis 2:18 (KJV)
And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
In Gen 1:26-27 God makes a family decision and says,
‘Let us’ create man in our image – male and female. He then forms Adam!
In order for Adam to be able to multiply he had to have a
wife (see Gen 2:18 above) so God made him one. He then goes on to bless
them and tells them to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28) – an
instruction to make a family!
21 So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh.
22 Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.23 The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”
So, God made Eve from the flesh of man (Adam’s rib) but Adam himself and all the animals God created were created from the ground.
Genesis 2:19 (NLT)
So, the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one.
Eve was made from the flesh of man and every human being
since then has been born of the flesh, man and woman coming together, except
Jesus who was born of the Spirit and of the flesh – the Spirit through God by
the power of the Holy Spirit and the flesh through his mother Mary – Jesus’
human side. So, Adam and Eve multiplied (had children, a family) as per God’s
instruction.
It is our spirit that is born-again, and it is the Holy
Spirit that gives us life.
The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.
Family has always been on God’s heart!
Who is my
father?
As soon as we become born-again Christians, we immediately
become part of God’s spiritual family, with God himself as our Father and head
of the entire Christian household across the world. We all, male and female,
become children (sons and daughters) of God.
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
In the above verses, God tells us through the Apostle John,
that once we have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, He gives us the
power and the right to become His sons
and daughters as we are born of His will and of his Spirit.
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
In John 1:12 and 1 John 3:1-2 above, the word
‘sons’ is translated from the Greek word ‘teknon’ and can also be translated as
‘children’ of both sexes, male and female. Thus, we are the spiritual children
of God, both male and female, and God is our spiritual Father in Christ Jesus.
In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he says a similar thing
to what the Apostle John said right at the beginning.
4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.
In the above verses Paul tells us that we (each one of us)
were chosen by God even before He placed us in our mother’s wombs! How amazing
is that! He predestined us to be His children. Ane is even more amazing – this
gave Him great pleasure!
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour we are
automatically adopted into God’s divine family as his children. Thus, making
God our heavenly Father.
Who are
my brothers and sisters?
In a nutshell our spiritual brothers and sisters are all
those people across the world who have repented of their sin and have accepted
Jesus Christ into their hearts as Lord and Saviour.
This is part of our adoption into God’s divine family. We
are one family united through Christ Jesus.
For you [who are born-again have been reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified and] are all children of God [set apart for His purpose with full rights and privileges] through faith in Christ Jesus.
The Apostle Paul in many of his writings often referred to
his fellow believers as brothers and sisters.
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
And Jesus himself tells us who our brothers and sisters are.
For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.
The writer of the book of Hebrews also tells us how Jesus
sees us as his brothers and sister.
11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says, “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters; in the assembly I will sing your praises.” (Ps 22:22)
The Apostle John tells us that we must love each other as
brothers and sisters in Christ and it is a sin if we do not. To love our
brothers and sisters in Christ is a command from God!
20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
The Apostle Paul in the book of Romans also tells us that
God created us to be conformed to Christ’s image so that we can be called His
brothers and sisters. It was always God’s plan that He should have many
children.
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
You will also notice from these scriptures that there is no
denomination mentioned, that is, there is no Anglican, Methodist, Baptist etc.
When we become born-again, we just become part of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Denominations are a man-made concept and are not Biblical and can often lead
people into a great deal of confusion and prideful sin!.
What
about my natural family?
Jesus came to bring salvation to mankind and thus reconcile
man to God the Father. In doing so he also introduced a new social order - the
spiritual family. Thus, every believer now has both a spiritual and a natural
family.
Once we become born-again, the spiritual family takes
precedence over the natural family in the sense that nothing should come
between the believer and Jesus and thus God the Father. This was a radical
concept not only at the time of Jesus but also in today’s world.
Look at what Jesus says in the below verses in Mark 3 (An
account of this can also be found in Matthew 12:46-50 and Luke
8:19-21). Jesus was in a house ministering to a group of his disciples when
his natural mother and brothers arrived at the front door, and they sent someone
to call him.
This is what he says:
33 “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. 34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Now why did Jesus say this, seemingly denying his natural
family?
We’ll find out now. Just look at this verse below!
For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
Extraordinary as it may seem, at the time of Jesus’
ministry, not even his natural family yet believed that he was the Messiah or
followed him – they were not yet born-again!
Jesus says in Matthew 12 that those who were
following him were his family, meaning they were his Spiritual family, through
believing in him they became sons and daughters of God.
46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. 47 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
48 He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
THE SPIRITUAL ALWAYS TAKES PRESCEDENCE OVER THE NATURAL!
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT ABOUT FLESH AND BLOOD, IT IS ABOUT THE SPIRITUAL THINGS OF GOD AND ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS IN THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT!
1 Corinthians 15:50 (NLT)
What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.
We are related to our natural family by flesh and blood
which is perishable and dies, but to our spiritual family, we are related by
the Spirit which is imperishable (eternal) and lives forever.
How do we
relate to our natural family – those who are not born-again?
So, now that we are born-again, how to we relate to our
natural family?
The answer in words is quite simple but it’s not so easy to
do in practice. We do it in the same way God relates to us and all mankind!
• In unconditional love
• In forgiveness
• In humility
• In servanthood
• In righteous discipline
• And to the glory of Jesus
Just be aware that your natural family that are not
born-again, stand with the ranks of the devil and will on many occasions be in
opposition to you, especially when it comes to the things of God!
34 “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword.
35 ‘I have come to set a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
36 Your enemies will be right in your own household!’
37 “If you love your father or mother more than you love me, you are not worthy of being mine; or if you love your son or daughter more than me, you are not worthy of being mine.
Mark 10:29-30 (NIV)
29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30 will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.
God’s
Promises to His Children
Many Bible scholars tell us that there are over 7 000
promises in the Bible that God makes to His children.
I have never counted them personally, but I do know that
there are a lot, and I do know from personal experience that there is no more
faithful a promise keeper than God.
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
In the above verse the apostle Paul tells us that all God’s
promises to those of us that are in Christ (born-again) are “Yes” and “Amen” –
amen meaning “let it be so” or “so be it.”
God’s promise to His children are given freely and are
entirely for our benefit, we don’t have to earn them we just have to
appropriate them.
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
God’s promises and gifts to His children are given to us out
of His heart of pure, fatherly love!
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
We just have to ask God to give us his good gifts. We ask
not out of selfishness, to just benefit ourselves, but out of a heart of love
that is for the benefit of others! Just as Jesus’ heart is for us!
When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.
Remember always that if we do not have love (the agape,
unconditional love of God) – then we have nothing and are nothing but empty
vessels!
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.
We, the Church of Jesus, are God’s family!
To Jesus belongs all glory, honour and praise!
No comments:
Post a Comment