Family Life
Андрей Николаевич Миронов (A.N. Mironov), CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons [cropped]
We learned this Sunday in Matthew 12:43-50 that the disciples of Jesus are the members of his true family. If we are followers of Jesus, that we means we are his brothers and sisters and in turn siblings of one another. In closing, I really tried to impress this reality upon us and to consider how we would live accordingly.
To most of us, the language of family is not new when describing the church. However, I’ll be the first to say that it’s easy to relegate this reality to mere words with little action standing behind them. Sometimes it’s difficult for us to imagine how church life might look substantially different when we’ve known nothing else but the status quo. It’s difficult to see the problem if things have always been like this.
Putting aside our own experiences, let’s consider the day-to-day reality of the early Church as described in Acts 2:42-47. I’ve taken the liberty of bolding and underlining to focus our gaze on certain characteristics relevant to considering the quality of our church family:
[42] And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. [43] And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. [44] And all who believed were together and had all things in common. [45] And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. [46] And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, [47] praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
- Acts 2:42-47 [ESV]
These verses are a description of the early Church’s life together. Dutifully, we recognize that description doesn’t always equal prescription – in other words, what was done then isn’t always exactly what we must do now. If that were the case, we’d be in a bit of fix since we can’t literally attend the temple together [the Jewish temple was destroyed in 70 A.D.]! Instead, our eyes should be drawn to the broader strokes in seeking an instructive example. What’s clear from these verses is that these Christians spent lots of time together. They learned together, they worshipped together, and they ate together. Together, they supported one another if anyone in the Church had a need. Clearly, all of this required time outside the space of a Sunday morning worship service. Life together demands more than an hour a week.
Living together is what a family does. Anyone with a tight-knit extended family knows you don’t need to be on the same plot of land or live in the same house to share your life together. Like the early Church, it looks like sharing meals together. How many of us are doing that? It’s easy to discount the significance of a meal, but it is difficult to truly share your life with others if you won’t share your home or even just a table with them. It’s easy to keep our brothers and sisters at arms-length in worship services or even in a class. The walls come tumbling down and the real stuff of our lives is brought to the surface when we get beyond those boundaries.
Spiritually we help each other in our shared devotion to the apostles’ teaching – that teaching reaches its furthest depths when we can help apply it to each other’s greatest needs. The same applies in helping each other materially. If we hardly know each other, we probably won’t tell each other about the work we need a hand with, the food we’re lacking, or the bills that are overwhelming us. We won’t be close enough to share or see any of those things. We must be together.
By this measure, it would appear difficult to live the Christian life apart from one another – this is true! When you gain a relationship with God in Christ, you also gain relationships with every person joined to Christ. You can’t have Christ without his family - they are a package deal. Maybe we tend to imagine this is merely like riding together on a bus as passive passengers; in truth, it’s nothing like that at all. It’s more like being on soccer team, in which the only way to win is by passing the ball to one another. In fact (not merely metaphorically), Paul says we are the Body of Christ and that each one of us is a different body part designed to the serve and benefit the whole. The Christian life practically consists of you helping others and others helping you follow Christ the Head. There is no other way.
How can our church live up to this picture of the Christian life? Well, I think our small group ministry is an important starting point. These groups get us into each other’s homes and the covenant groups within these groups really do give you opportunities to open up your life to other people. Additionally, they set you on the path of discovering your role in the church community, ensuring you’re not just along for the ride. I also think we live up to this as we begin to make time for each other in all kinds of informal ways. Invite each other over dinner. Go sledding together, go to the beach together, catch a ball game together. We can’t completely program life together. Organic roots are needed, drawn from our love for one another. In a society characterized by isolation, this is what a real counterculture looks like. Because it is counter-cultural, it doesn’t come easily to us. Don’t let that stop you. We’re a family – let’s live like it.
Rev. Tom Loghry
Tom Loghry is the senior pastor of Rockland Community Church in North, Scituate, RI. He is a graduate of the Berkshire Institute for Christian Studies, Toccoa Falls College (B.S. Pastoral Ministry), and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (M.A. Theology). He is continuing his graduate studies in the area of “Ethics & Society” at GCTS.