The Family of God (Part 2)

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of

Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L.

Moody.

We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of

the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website morsecornerchurch .com.

We hope you enjoy the message.

Here in the United States, starting sometime in the late 1950s, 1960s,

and it ran through the 1980s, America went through what some people call the Fourth

Great Awakening.

And people were flooding into churches, and this term, born again, became a catchphrase.

Even one of the presidents in this time period called himself a born -again Christian

in the first presidential interview in Playboy magazine.

So even Playboy magazine was talking about born -again Christians, if you can believe that.

But people were flooding into churches.

Churches were full.

Churches were full.

Some of you can remember those days.

We have a pastor's meeting that gets together once a month, and people lament the state of the church and how

things were just so much better back in the 70s and back in the 80s where churches were full.

Well, why were churches full?

Because it was in season.

It was being a Christian, going to church was, quote, the thing to do.

Well, that buzz, that excitement has kind of wore off.

And thankfully, during that time, a lot of people were converted, and many of those conversions were real.

Praise the Lord.

But a good number of those conversions were not, and the people fell away.

Why?

They didn't count the cost.

Being a Christian, going to church was the thing to do.

It was popular, so everyone was doing it.

Now, being a Christian is not seen in the same way.

In America today, especially since around 2015, with the

Supreme Court ruling on same -sex marriage, things have gotten a lot

more difficult.

Instead of being seen as a Christian, and, hey, that guy's trying to do the right thing, now you're seen as one of

those people.

I really believe, though, you say, well, pastor, you're supposed to encourage us.

This sounds really discouraging.

I'm discouraged now.

Here's the positive thing.

Yeah, things are getting harder, but when things get more difficult, that brings people together.

Okay, false converts might go a different direction.

That's going to happen eventually anyways.

But the people who are still faithful to the Lord, I believe the Lord has brought us closer together.

Just in the past two years, and the things that we've been experiencing as a church with the, well, you know everything in the

past couple years, I really believe this church has gotten closer together as the result.

So that's a good thing.

But in the early church, there was potentially a very high price to

pay.

This is why Jesus said, you're still in Matthew 10, look at verse 38, Jesus said, and he who does

not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

The early disciples knew what that meant.

Take up your cross.

So the point is, whether Christians have it really, really hard or whether we have it pretty good,

either way, a Christian's loyalty, don't miss this, a Christian's loyalty must be

first and foremost with Christ.

And then second to those who are in Christ.

But before coming to Christ, we must, and hopefully we all have, we have counted the cost.

You know, when we make a decision to follow Jesus, we need to be able to say, hey, yeah, I'm

willing to give up a few things for the Lord.

Well, you should be willing to give up sin.

Certainly.

Are you willing to allow your faith to cost you something?

We're not talking about money.

We're talking about family relationships strained,

people in the world looking at you a little differently.

You might not get a promotion at work.

1975, being a Christian might have helped you get a promotion.

Today, if you're vocal about your faith, you're not getting that promotion most places.

So we have to count the cost.

That's kind of looking at it from the negative side of things.

Let's look at it from the positive side of things.

Because, you know, there's far more benefits.

The benefits far outweigh the cost.

Let's turn to Matthew chapter 19.

The peace of God and everlasting life is, that's priceless.

Everlasting life, that in itself is worth it.

Everyone is going to, you know, unless the Lord returns, everybody is going to die.

And when you die in this life, you don't take anything with you.

People who are lost, they lose everything and there is

no eternal life waiting for them.

But to give up something in this world to inherit peace in our heart and everlasting

life, that's worth whatever the cost is.

What does the Bible say?

The first will be last and the last first.

Just consider for a moment the lowliest saint in the world.

The lowliest saint who is way down here compared to Bill Gates

who is way up here.

That's the way it is right now.

But in the life to come, what happens?

Death is the equalizer and then the first will be last and the last will be first.

Look at Matthew 19 verse 27.

Then Peter answered and said to him, Lord, see, we have left all and

followed you.

Therefore, what shall we have?

Peter understood the cost of discipleship.

So he's asking Jesus, OK, what are we going to get?

What are we going to inherit?

And Jesus said to him, assuredly, I say to you that in the regeneration that is the age to come,

when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will

also sit on 12 thrones.

This is the 12 apostles.

They will judge or govern the 12 tribes of Israel.

So the apostles, these men gave up everything.

They left their jobs.

They were seen as part of this new sect called the

way.

They, I'm sure, lost friends.

They gave up everything for Jesus.

What is the reward for the 12 disciples, for the 12 apostles?

They're going to be ruling in the millennium and have this place of prominence in the age to come.

But what about the average believer?

What do we get?

That's not how we usually pray to God.

OK, God, what are you going to give me?

Or maybe you do pray to God that way.

I don't know.

But what is God going to give us?

Jesus says, and everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or fathers or

mothers or wife or children or lands for my namesake shall receive what?

A hundredfold and inherit eternal life.

So not only do we inherit eternal life, the greatest gift of all, we

receive in this life a hundred fold.

How is that possible?

So understand this.

If you give up something for the Lord in some way, you're going to receive back a hundred fold.

So we're talking about the family of God, right?

The household of faith.

When you become a Christian, even if some of your family members don't like

that and they you're strained in that relationship, you know, you've gained family.

You've gained family a hundred fold.

You realize you can travel anywhere in this country, go to church on Sunday morning.

There are your brothers and sisters.

You could travel anywhere in this world, language barrier aside, and you can find family

all over this country, all over the continent, all over the world.

Throughout history, Christians have opened their homes to others.

Missionaries and evangelists could always find a place to stay.

Someone would feed them.

People support them in their ministries.

Maybe they gave some things up, but what they inherited is so much

greater.

In John chapter 19, just a biblical example of this.

In John chapter 19, when Jesus was on the cross, there was one apostle.

We talk about how all the disciples ran and hid because they were afraid.

You realize there was one disciple who didn't run and hide.

Who is that?

John.

John stood at the foot of the cross with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and some of the

other women.

You remember what Jesus said to his mother and to the apostle John?

He said to his mother, woman, behold, your son, pointing to John.

And he said to John, behold, your mother.

And the scripture says from that hour, that disciple took her in his own

home.

Why?

Because they were family.

There's no blood relation, but they were family.

John had his mother.

Now he had another mother.

Mary had her children.

Now she gained another son who took care of her from that point forward.

That should be the way it is among Christians, that even if you lost everything,

there would always be someone to take you in and care for you.

And just think about this.

Mary had other children, didn't she?

The gospels record that Jesus had what?

At least four other brothers and at least two sisters.

And yet Jesus has Mary go with John.

Why didn't Mary go with her own children?

Because the Bible says that her own children didn't believe in Jesus at that

moment.

So, you know, that's interesting.

Do good to all.

What's the message about?

Do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Okay, let's go back to Galatians chapter six.

Hopefully that gives you some idea of the New Testament teaching on this subject.

Today, I think in the evangelical church in America, we've kind of got away from this a little bit.

And there's a variety of different reasons.

I mean, we're living in different times.

Back then, most of the Christians were poor.

They really didn't have much.

Today, we live in one of, if not the most wealthy society in history.

Everybody has what they need more than they need.

So you could argue there's not that necessity today like there was back then.

Whatever the case, yeah, the times are different.

Things have changed.

I get it.

But we need to be careful.

We don't want to lose this.

We don't want to lose that closeness.

It's true.

You're not going to be best friends with everybody in the church.

I mean, even in a normal family, you're not best friends with everybody you're blood related to.

That's a given.

That's not really the point.

But if we only see our brothers and sisters in Christ for an hour a week,

and for that hour, most of it, we're just sitting listening.

Well, you're listening to me.

If that's the totality of the Christian life, you're going to be missing something.

What do we do about that?

I always encourage people to come out Wednesday night.

Why?

Because there's times before and after to make connections.

Churches have Bible studies in small groups.

I mean, being part of a small group or a Bible study where you can just talk to somebody, I mean, that is so,

so important.

Make connections.

Keep in contact with fellow believers during the week.

And I don't say any of this to try to pressure someone into showing up Wednesday or to add more things to your plate.

I know a lot of people are busy and you feel like you don't have time.

I just know speaking for myself, I know how important it is for me.

I know how much I appreciate in need Christian fellowship

during the week that goes beyond Sunday morning.

One way we are in fellowship with God is how?

By being in fellowship with the people of God.

And when someone starts to drift and you don't see them for a long time, Christians historically have had a

term for that.

It's called being out of fellowship because you're out of the fellowship.

And I say this with a heart of compassion.

I've never met a Christian who gets out of fellowship and they become more joyful

and things get better.

That typically just doesn't happen.

And again, the goal for the body of Christ is to support one another.

We want to love one another, help one another, encourage one another.

And by spending time with one another, it helps to keep us accountable that we would

abide in Jesus as part of his body.

Thanks for listening.

I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church.

If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website,

MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.

Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.