Preacher: Jeremy Herbert
Text: Philippians 1:27-2:4
Theme: A church is most like the church when it’s a family
Notes:
“If you want to travel fast, go alone.
If you want to ravel far, go together.” –African Proverb
Why We Should View the Church as Family
- The Bible refers to believers as ‘family’ over 200 times
- The command to love like family
- God refers to His people as a household
- The images the Bible uses
- a body
- The Bible describes our ‘sonship’ as part of a larger family group
- Hebrews 2:11-12
- Romans 8:29
- Galatians 4:5
- There are no ‘only children’ in God’s plan
- “The more disconnected we are from a local church the more confused we will be about who we are and what God created us to be. We find our true individual selves in relationship to others.” –John Piper
- “Whereas independence is an important value to … interdependence is the way of most societies of the world.” –Duane Elmer
- Paul’s pastoral instruction to Timothy
- 1 Timothy 5:1-2
- Philemon 1
- Jesus’s teaching on his followers being family
- Matthew 12:46-50
- Genuine, active love is a proof of real faith
- 1 John 2:9-11
- 1 John 3:14
- The early church functioned like a family
- James 2:14-17
- 1 Timothy 5:3-9
- The command for unity
- Philippians 1:27-2:$
- John 17
- Ephesians 4
- “In America, we celebrate independence in a myriad of ways…In its extreme form, society encourages individuals to cast off tradition, church and even family in pursuit of self-expression. ”–Amy Medina
- The command to “bear with one another”
- Colossians 3:1-17
- aka, putting up with one another’s faults and frailties
- It teaches the world something–and it teaches us something as well
- “I will not room with that person”
- Realize that you are that person for someone else
- Pastoral qualifications to lead their home
- 1 Timothy 3
- The leadership of elders
- 1 Peter 5
- 1 Corinthians 4:14-21
- The command for pastors to shepherd and oversee
- Acts 20:28-31
- 1 Peter 5:1-4
- The command to discipline
- Matthew 18:15-18
- How did the apostles understand this commandment, and how did they apply it?
- 1 Corinthians 5:9-13
- 2 Thessalonians 3
- Galatians 6:1-2
How Can We Live This Out?
- We should devote ourselves to one particular church family
- We should love our family with actions, not just words
- We need to work hard for family unity
- We have to be “in this together”
- We have to be willing to do the hard things
- We should absolutely care about believers outside our fellowship
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