Sunday mornings are a peculiar time of the week. While many people choose to sleep in, catch up on some housework, head to the beach, or perhaps grab brunch with friends, countless others get in their cars to gather at a specific meeting place. They sit shoulder to shoulder—some are close friends, others acquaintances, while many are seemingly strangers. The group is usually quite diverse in gender, age, race, and social-economic status; yet, they gather together in the early morning hours. Who are these people? And what has brought them together? It might seem strange to say or even comprehend, but they are a family. In some sense, you can even say that their gathering is a weekly family reunion. But this is no ordinary family; this is the church—the household of God.
The church is many things. As a matter of fact, the New Testament uses multiple images to paint a vivid portrait of who we are as the people of God. But the biblical authors use one particular picture more often than the others—the church as a family or household. Yet this is no mere metaphor or illustration, it is a theological reality accomplished through the gospel. In his glorious grace, God chose to adopt us into his family through the work of Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:5). In doing so, he now calls us his children (1 Jhn. 3:1), and in turn, we get to call him "Abba! Father!" (Rom. 8:15). But not only is God our Father, and we, his children, but Jesus—the Eternal Son—is our elder brother, who is in no way ashamed to call us his family (Heb. 2:10-13). This is who we are.
The image of the church as a family was never meant to be an abstract, theoretical, or simply idealistic vision for God's people. To ignore this fact, and even more gravely, to neglect to embrace this specific marker, would be to disregard God's heart and desire for his people's identity. We are a family; we are brothers and sisters. And how do we practically embrace God's blood-bought vision for his people, within the context of the local church? We choose to belong to a specific people in a particular place where we tangibly express our familial commitment to one another in response to the gospel. Through the local church, we joyfully yet soberly commit ourselves to our brothers and sisters. We reorient our loyalty and devotion. Why? Because the gospel compels us to embrace our family. Not just on Sunday mornings, but every hour of every day.
What would it look like for us to embrace this reality as a value at Summit Church? We often say we are a God-glorifying, gospel-centered, missionally-driven, and disciple-making people. In other words, we are committed to these distinctive values that shape and form who we are as a church. But what if our identity as the family of God was the distinctive that provided the context for us to truly embrace these values? What if we were committed to resting in our adoption as children of God? What would it look like to truly live in biblical community? What if we devoted ourselves to caring for one another as Scripture commands of us? Over the next few weeks, we will answer these questions as we consider what it means to live as the household of God—children adopted by the Father in Christ Jesus, committed to each other as brothers and sisters. Join us as we explore what it means to be a God-glorifying, gospel-centered, missionally-driven, disciple-making FAMILY!