Sunday Worship Notes from 12/13/2020
What do you love about the Holidays?
Many people enjoy connecting with family and friends, good Holiday foods and desserts, Holiday movies and music, decorations etc.
In General, during the Holidays many of us tend to focus on spending time with family. At Christmas, we celebrate Jesus’s birthday, although historically we know that was not his actual
birthday.
What do you think it was like to grow up in Jesus’s physical family?
Can you imagine being one of Jesus’ four brothers or two sisters (Matthew 13)?
What do you think makes a family a family?
What holds a family together?
Some ideas: Shared interests and values, love for each other, supportive members, sharing good times, sharing meals, being intentional to unify, putting work into relationships.
The bond that holds family together is our shared identity.
WHO IS MY FAMILY?
Read Matthew 12:46-50
● Jesus being both Son of Man and Son of God, prioritized his identity with his true family as the spiritual family doing God’s will
● In order to be in Jesus’s family, we have to do the will of God
● Jesus did not disown his physical family but he set a clear boundary for them to be considered his true spiritual family, they had to do God’s will
● We need to remember that loving God also included loving our biological family and calling them to obey God’s will
● Luke 2:41-52- from the time Jesus was a child, the dynamics between the two “families” can be seen, Family by Flesh and Family by Spirit
Read Romans 8:28-30
● God works for the good… we aren’t working, it is God
● We are justified because of Jesus’s death and resurrection
● We are now part of God’s family, an eternal family
● We are chosen to be justified and glorified when we become part of God’s family
WHAT IS YOUR ROLE IN THE FAMILY?
Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-26
● We are all part of one body in Jesus Christ
● As individuals we are uniquely created and bestowed with certain gifts from God to fulfill the role God wants us to play
● We need each other, each one of us has an important role to play
● The weakest parts of our body need special attention. That’s how we can physically see love
HOW SHOULD WE HAVE HARD TALKS IN THE FAMILY ?
Matthew 18:15
● Compared to other bible versions, the NASB version states, “If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.
● The common understanding is, “If your brother sins against you…”; this is a completely different condition in our responsibility, to insure we help each other in regards to sin
● Remember to have the hard talks with an individual person in private first with the intention to win them over
● Be gentle, be humble, and help each other out
● Read Galatians 6:1-3, restore each other gently
WHAT ARE SOME GOALS OF THE FAMILY ?
Ephesians 5:1
● “Be Imitators of God, as beloved children…” How can we achieve this?
● Love and obey Jesus (John 14)
● Imitate Jesus by walking daily with him by reading and obeying the word and praying and seeing to it that our lives are aligning with God’s will
● Keep remembering to love each other, restore each other
Prayer and Meditation for Communion
Romans 8:1-11- think about the "flesh" versus "the law" of the Spirit
Romans 8: 12-17- think about -living by the Spirit, adoption as sons, children and heirs with Christ