Title: Family of God/Ephesians 2:11-19
Family of God
☞Text: 11. Consider, therefore, that you were then Gentiles in the flesh, those who are called uncircumcised by those who call it the circumcision made in the flesh with hands. 12. At that time you were outside Christ and outside the kingdom of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, and without hope and without God in the world. 13. Now you, who were afar off, have been drawn near by the blood of Christ in Christ Jesus. . 14. For he is our peace, who made the two one, and broke down in his flesh the middle wall of enmity, 15 he abolished the law of commandments, which was written in ordinances, for from the two made in himself one new man, so that 16. And that both of them might be reconciled to God in one body through the cross, so that enmity was destroyed by the cross, 17. He also came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. , 18. that through him we both may have access to the Father in one Spirit. 19. Therefore, from now on you are no longer strangers and strangers, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
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In Jesus' parable of heaven, a certain vineyard owner goes to the labor market early in the morning and hires a worker to work in the vineyard, hires another worker at 9 a.m., another at noon, and another at 3 p.m. At 5 p.m., he hires another person to work in the vineyard, and after he finishes his work at 6 p.m., he pays the same denarius each to calculate the wage. Those who come early will of course complain. (Matthew 20:1-16) Can the pay be the same if each person works for a different amount of time? To anyone who sees it, something seems unfair. But there is nothing wrong with the owner. Because he promised a wage of one denarius to the one who came early. That said, even those of you who came early in the morning will be dissatisfied.
In particular, this parable is a parable of heaven, and there is no doubt that the content of heaven is something that can be misunderstood. It is true that late arrivals are good, but early arrivals should still be given a small bonus. But why did you give them the same amount? Is heaven like that? It is true that it raises the curiosity of the question, but there is a surprising secret lurking here.
If it is a holiday, let's assume that the older child joined in the morning, and the younger child went out for an appointment and came to work around lunchtime. After finishing work, the father called the two children and gave them the same amount of 10,000 won each. Of course, the children who worked early may be a bit dissatisfied, but what their father gave them was not as an employee, but as pocket money because they were family.
It is a metaphor to explain that Heaven does not accept us as employees or workers, but recognizes and accepts us as God's family.
Brothers and sisters, you and I are not called to be employed in the kingdom of God, but to God's family. Whether you first believed or believed later, they are all members of God's family. A person of a normal mind will not be dissatisfied with the fact that the family is doing well.
Verse 19 says, "Therefore, you are no longer strangers, you are no longer strangers, but you are fellow citizens with the saints. You are of the household of God."
The English Bible records "the household of God" as "Family Of God", that is, "the family of God."
Those who have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ have become “Family of God” who call God their Father. Therefore, every believer has become a "brother" in the family of God.
When Jesus was educating his disciples, he said, "Do not let men call you teachers. You have one teacher, and you are all brothers" (Matthew 23:8). He says they are brothers in the family of
The Early Church did not distinguish between what is yours and what is mine, and shared it with them, so it showed a good family image.
It is true that Christians today have a clear conception of God's family, but a very rare conception of brotherhood. They call God Father and try to maintain a good relationship with God no matter what they do, but rather than trying to maintain a good relationship with each other as brothers in Christ, it is a fact that there are many cases of rivalry and opposition. .
Reconciliation is the absolute thing for brothers, but in fact, this is not being achieved.
Jesus said, "I tell you, everyone who is angry with his brother will be judged, whoever calls raga (swear words) against his brother will be held in a council, and whoever calls a fool will go to hell fire. If you are going to offer it and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift at the altar and go first and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:22-24). .
But when I think about how much we live in harmony as brothers in the Lord, I feel ashamed.
Let us ponder what we must do to be reconciled as brothers in the Lord.
1. Reconciliation requires service.
In Hebrews 2:11, Jesus said that He is not ashamed to call us brothers. But what kind of life did Jesus, who called us brothers, live toward us? In Mark 10:45, it was a life of service, and in the end it was a life of giving up your body as a ransom sacrifice.
In Yesan, Chungcheongnam-do, there is the “Lee Seong-man Hyojebi,” which was built to commemorate the deeds of two brothers, Lee Seong-man and Yi Soon, who were famous for their filial piety. It was introduced in a Korean book, but after the harvest, the two brothers have the same thoughts. The older brother thought that the younger brother might not have enough food, and the younger brother thought the same. He took the rice sheaf and put it on his brother's grain, and the younger brother put his own grain of rice on his brother's grain and piled it up. It's strange, tilting their heads over and over again, and one twilight night, the two of them meet each other with a crest, and only then do they find out why their sickles didn't shrink, and the two hug each other with their burdens on their back and weep. .
Reconciliation must have service, and when you try to be served, the harmony is broken.
2. We must advise those who break the reconciliation by committing a sin.
Since the main culprit who breaks the reconciliation is sin, if we leave it alone, it is like leaving the wound alone to a point where it cannot be healed due to a bigger wound.
When a brother sins, Jesus tells us to forgive seventy times seven times, and he tells us to do it only when we confess our sins and repent. Even if you commit a sin, there is no forgiveness if you just take it off. Luke 17:3-4 "Be careful of yourselves, if your brother sins, warn him, and if he repents, forgive him. If he sins against you even seven times a day and he comes back to you seven times, saying, I repent, forgive him." more."
In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus said that when a brother sins in the church, he counsels him, and when he does not listen, he sets up two or three witnesses to confirm his sin, and if he does not listen, he speaks to the church, If they do not listen, they are told to come here like a foreigner.
It is true that this part is not going well in the church. I think that reconciliation will not be broken if you unconditionally close your eyes even if you do something wrong, but that is not the case. You must know that by neglecting it, you can destroy the reconciliation of the whole church. However, although overall reconciliation is also important, it can destroy a brother's self-esteem and infringe human rights, so it should not be recommended unconditionally.
When a brother commits a certain error, there is a certain circumstance and background, so he should know it well and recommend it so that he can realize his mistake and repent to achieve the purpose of the counsel. This is because the person who committed the wrong will not be able to admit it.
When this happens, I tell you to do two things.
The first is to pray that the Holy Spirit will counsel him to realize himself and repent. Zechariah 12:10 "I will pour out upon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication, and they will look upon him whom he has pierced, and they will mourn for him as they mourn for their only son, and weep for him as weeping for the firstborn. "
A spirit of grace and supplication means a spirit that asks for grace and a spirit that asks for forgiveness. It means that God gives you a heart to repent.
After hearing Peter's sermon, 3,000 Jews were moved by the Holy Spirit and repented of their sins of killing Jesus on the cross.
Second, you must first look at yourself who is making recommendations.
Luke 6:42 "If you do not see the log that is in your eye, why can you say to your brother, Brother, make me take the speck out of your eye? You hypocrite, first remove the log from your eye, and then you I will see and remove the speck from your brother's eye."
In fact, he is more than that, but he does not see his own, but if he sees and points out the faults of his brother, he will not admit his mistake. Of course, this is not something that only a perfect person can recommend, and I should recommend after examining whether or not there is anything wrong with what he did wrong.
There is no difficulty in accomplishing God's will only when we achieve reconciliation as brothers who call God our Father. As God's family, let us all serve more to achieve reconciliation with a brotherly consciousness, and cultivate ourselves more reverently so that the sin that breaks reconciliation does not set foot in the church.
Psalm 133:1 As it is said, “How good and beautiful it is for brothers to live together in unity,” let us all work together to create a beautiful family of God.