A Family Created by Spiritual Birth
One of my favorite bloggers and commenters is John (Aussie John) from “Caesura.” He recently published a very good post called “Family of God.”
The entire post is a great examination (from Scripture) of the essence and nature of God’s family, that is, those of us who are reborn into his family by the Spirit. While I encourage you to read the entire post, I want to point out a few things.
Notice these statements:
Assemblies, or congregations of people calling themselves Christians, have been constituted by techniques of human ingenuity, all claiming to be based on the New Testament, each with its system of doctrine and practice, some in stark contrast to others.
It seems to me that God’s idea is the creation of a spiritual family; a Family marked and ordered by love for God, as revealed in Jesus Christ, whose outworking of life will express itself according to what Scripture reveals…
Mutual Family love begins by spiritual birth, which is the placing of an individual spiritual stone, in the one organic entity of God’s Family. Mutual Family love DOES NOT come by adherence to a doctrinal code, statement of beliefs, or by joining.
Its intended purpose is not determined by its size or it’s statements about what it believes, but by the outworking of spiritual life of love and service to others as a measure of the indwelling of Christ by His Spirit.
Ah, yes… what a difference to live as family among those whom God has birthed anew by his Spirit instead of picking and choosing who to treat as brothers and sisters based on our beliefs and opinions.
I have a natural brother, born to the same mother and father. I love my brother, although we haven’t and probably still don’t always agree with one another. But, I was never asked whether or not he was going to be my brother. He IS my brother.
In the same way, everyone born of the Spirit IS your brother and sister and part of the family of God with you. Period.
I think we need to talk. There are two foundational truths that God has built into my life. The first, and most foundational has to do with God’s kind of love. It is alive that is good for enemies, Romans 5:10. And the other truth has to do with relationships that come from God. Everything else is systematic deal making.
Bless You Today!
Love!
Jay
Jay,
What would you like to talk about? I love your focus on God’s kind of love and relationships in your comment.
-Alan
you said, In the same way, everyone born of the Spirit IS your brother and sister and part of the family of God with you. Period.
Yes and you shall know them the eyes are the ligh to the soul,
Thanks Alan
And Jay Wow
Jay Ferris says:
Everything else is systematic deal making.
Excellent insight and a lot of experience sewn in there, being taught by the Spirit of truth. excellent excellent
Howard
I meant to say:
I think we need to talk. There are two foundational truths that God has built into my life. The first, and most foundational has to do with God’s kind of love. It is a love that is good for enemies, Romans 5:10. And the other truth has to do with relationships that come from God. Everything else is systematic deal making.
Bless You Today!
Love!
Jay
P.S. Quite some years ago now I found myself wondering if there were any
legitimate divisions in the Old Testament people of God, something that
might justify division in the New Testament people of God. I went to my
Strong’s, and looked up the words “division” and “divisions”. There it
was, Joshua, 7:14, and Joshua, 11:23. There was more; 12:7, 18:10, 2
Chronicles, 35:5,12, but that was enough to make my case. or demonstrate
the principle.
In Joshua 11:23, both the KJV, and the NIV use the word “divisions”,
“tribal divisions” as the NIV has it, and “divisions by their tribes” as
the KJV has it. But that’s not the end of it, because Joshua 7:14 breaks
it down further into “Tibes, clans, families, and men of the household.”
NIV. The KJV is the one that uses the word household. There it is broken
down into “Tribes, families, households, and, in effect, men of the
households.”
So what’s the deal?
Here’s the deal: When God deals with His people under the Old Covenant,
He deals with them according to their “tribes, their clans, their
families, and the men of the families.” If we can leave aside the gender
bias for the moment, the important thing here is that, life put them in
their place. No one had to figure out where they belonged, because life
put them in their place. The only “divisions” which were recognized were
“divisions according to life.”
That is how God created life in the flesh, and that is How He does life in
the Spirit, only in the new creation we are born into it, “… not according
to human decision or husbands will but born of God, John 1:13.
Howard,
Yes, the Spirit bears witness to our spirit that we are the children of God. And we can also know one another by our fruit, according to Jesus.
Jay,
It’s a strange new family that God is creating in Jesus Christ by his Holy Spirit. 🙂
-Alan