Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
They say you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.
As you look around you each Sunday in church, what do you see?
Do you see a handful of friends, and some other people who are just sort of there in the background but don’t really figure much in your thinking?
Do you see a bunch of strangers? (Friends you just haven’t met yet, according to William Butler Yeats or the Simpsons, depending on your age.)
Or do you see a family, your family, gathered together regularly because you are just that? Family.
In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul says to the church:
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. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22
If you’ve been at church forever and you’re in Christ, you’re part of the family. And if you’ve just arrived and you’re in Christ, you’re part of the family. We’re a family which is united in Christ. Human families can be broken and fractured, but God’s family is united and whole. United in Jesus in a way that isn’t possible, humanly speaking. Paul says this is true of the Jews and Gentiles. That was unthinkable! And it’s true of us.
What’s more, Paul says that:
His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.(3:10f)
The very existence of the church as one in Christ is remarkable, and a display of God’s wisdom and his working out of his purposes. It is no small thing that God is doing, however insignificant we may feel. And:
…Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. (4:11-16)
God is growing us, together, to maturity in Christ. The role of those who lead is to equip the church to serve, and it’s the way we serve each other that builds up the family of Christ.
As a family, as a body, each of us matters. We grieve when one is hurt, we rejoice when one is glad. We care for each other and want what is good for each other in Christ. And we each have a part to play for us all to grow together.
What is yours in this season?
This will be my last minister’s letter. I’m thankful to God for the privilege it has been to serve you and serve alongside you. I’m thankful to Him for all who serve the body of Christ as they are able. I’m thankful for the fruit of his work amongst us as he grows us to maturity. And I’m thankful that whatever happens, we have a glorious future together with him.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (3:16-21)
Stacey
Assistant Minister | 8am, 9.45am & 11:30am congregations
