Our Church Family

2 Kings 10; 2 Chronicles 22-23; 1 Timothy 5

“Do not rebuke an older man harshly but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.’

1 Timothy 5:1, 2

Paul’s counsel on relationships in the church was to correspond to a family. The church is composed of spiritual fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters. In the shame/honor culture to which Paul was speaking, the family relationships were of the highest order. Paul was saying to treat the members of the church with the same high value you treat your family. As we interpret those instructions in our context, we too, need to see the church as more than an auditorium of religious consumers. Going deeper in relationships takes effort, risk, and is costly. However, as we become known by others, the benefits strengthen our faith and discipleship. We were meant to know and follow Jesus as disciples in community, the family of God.

How will that change relationships in our context and local church?

“Lord Jesus, thank you for the church family you placed me in, for your glory.”