God’s Family – The Family Friend

Pastor Stephen explores the concept of God’s family by tracing the historical and spiritual lineage of faith from the Garden of Eden to the modern era. He highlights how God established a covenant relationship with His people, moving from the foundational promises given to Abraham to the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt. Using the story of Moses and the burning bush, he illustrates the tension between divine holiness and human fallibility, ultimately presenting God as a compassionate and patient friend. Central to his message is the idea that true membership in this family requires a desire to reflect the Father’s character through surrender and faithfulness. Finally, he emphasizes that Jesus Christ serves as the ultimate bridge for reconciliation, allowing believers to experience an intimate, purposeful relationship with a God who remains consistent and merciful.

Transcript

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Uh, we're in the midst of a series called God's Family. Say God's family with me. God's family. It's important to understand that concept or that truth of who we are as children of God. Through our series, we're uncovering the roots of what God's family is all about. When we think of God's family, we immediately think of people who believe in Jesus Christ. Or people who go to church, that's God's family. Or even people who put themselves in the category of Christians. I'm a Christian, I'm a part of God's family, yet they have no desire to look or operate as sons and daughters of God. Hear what I'm saying this morning. There's a lot of people who say they're a part of God's family, but they have no desire to even look like their Heavenly Father. They have no desire to look like a son and daughter of God, and that's a problem. Because we've seen in God's family that God's family runs much deeper than this, all the way back to the Garden of Eden. We see our purpose as a family and its peak with humanity accomplishing its assignment, and God is in the midst of it. This family picture gets torn apart very quickly when man gives in to the desires of the flesh, man gives in to sin, and now the effects of sin start to trickle on and they're handed off to generation to generation to generation. And by the time we get to Abraham in Genesis, and we've recounted this, you can listen to it on the podcast. But we see the need for God to step in and now reconstruct what family would become. Abraham being called to step out of his father's house and under the covering of the heavenly father of God Almighty. And under God Almighty, Abraham would find protection, he would find provision, he would find purpose. And this covering would provide blessing, inheritance, and a promise. From Abraham to Isaac, Isaac to Jacob, we see family starting to take shape. We also notice that it is the faithful, the undistracted, the unmovable sons and daughters of God that provide a way for God's family to really take its fullest strides. It's the faithful, it's the committed. Somebody like Joseph, who we talked about. Joseph was a son of Jacob, and Joseph's commitment to trusting in God knew that whatever obstacle he was going through, he knew that he was a child of God. Whatever obstacle Joseph faced, and there were some really difficult ones, he knew that he was a child of God. And this knowing, this understanding brought him to second in command over all of Egypt. He's not getting distracted in the family dysfunction. Sometimes we can do that. We get caught up in the family dysfunction. We get distracted by the reckless, the selfless, the selfish decisions of everybody else, but Joseph knew who he was as a child of God, and he lived in constant surrender to the Lord. Last week we recounted how all of Jacob's family came to Egypt under Joseph's rule. There would be 70 family members that would come to Egypt, and when they would walk out of Egypt 400 years later, there would be over two million people that would walk out of Egypt and towards the promised land. The promises of God that were promised to the family of God are starting to take place. Descendants, as promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, too many to count. A land to call their own, protection, provision, and purpose. If you read in Exodus, when the Egyptians began treating the Israelites harshly, the Israelites cried out to God and he heard them. We saw this on Mount Horeb when God reveals himself to Moses in a new way. Turn in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 3. And the Lord said, I have certainly seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. And this is important. Watch what God does here. I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, and to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. For the first time in biblical history, we see God is taking possession of his people. Those are my people. Those are my people. God is taking possession. He calls them for the first time my people while showing compassion. How many know we serve a compassionate God? And a few verses later, we see God reveals to Moses that he is the I am. Can you say I am? A powerful description of who God is, a revelation of the attributes and characteristics of God. Not only is he God Almighty or Al-Shaddai, it's here to the servant Moses. He reveals himself as Yahweh, the self-sufficient, self-sustaining God who not only reigns supreme, but watch this: God desires to have a relationship with his creation. A God who designed you and I, designed life itself, and knows that the sustenance of your life is only provided through him. Do you believe that this morning? Because it's important to understand. The sustenance of your life, the peace, the prosperity of your life is dependent upon him and only found through him. Thus, a reconciliation must take place to where God and men are operating in communion with each other, ushering in humanity's purpose and restoring the possibility of life, even everlasting life. And we see that through Jesus Christ. But it's here God not only reveals his desire for intimacy with his creation, but he appears to Moses through a burning bush, showing his holiness, his perfection, his glory in Exodus chapter 3, verse 5. Then he said, Do not come near here, remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is what? Talking about God's holiness. And how it's God's desire that we don't just stay where we're at, but we run towards his holiness, something that Moses couldn't do at the burning bush. But now a way has been prepared through Jesus Christ where we can come near the presence of God and experience all that he has for his creation. God is a holy God. Do you believe that this morning? God is revealing to Moses that God is holy and man is not. Man cannot even come near to the presence of God. Why? Man is sinful and God is not. God is revealing to Moses that he desires a relationship with his created, but the divide is so great between God's holiness and man's sin. Could a relationship between God and man ever be restored? Could we ever experience God's holiness? How could man again be counted as holy to be worthy enough to even approach the dwelling place of God? Under the leadership of Moses, the Israelites begin this journey. Realize that's the starting place. You see the gap. Now it's time for Moses and the Israelites to start their journey toward restoration. Now we will start the journey towards security. Now we will start the journey towards peace. The family is in motion towards restoration and peace and security. We've called this Sunday Friendship Sunday because this word friendship is so fitting for what we're going to talk about this morning. Because we're going to see how God reveals Himself in such a way to the Israelites, to God's family. After the burning bush on Mount Horeb, Moses stands before Pharaoh and says the famous lines before the Lord. Do you remember what that line was? I'm sure you've seen it in movies. Moses stands before Pharaoh and says, Some of you are following. Good. Let my people go. Let my people go. The words from God. Moses says this line seven times before Pharaoh. A reminder of whose people the Israelites were. They were God's people, and now with God's name attached to theirs, guess what? The power of God would be unveiled on their behalf because now God's name was attached to their name. Realize when you give your life to Jesus Christ, God's name is attached to your name. You are no longer just Susie from Johnston. You're no longer just Craig from Coventry, but you carry the power of the Holy Spirit. The power of God's name is attached to you. Wherever you go, just like the Israelites, and you see what happens, Egypt would be hit with ten plagues, including the firstborn being killed throughout all of Egypt. The power of God over life itself is attached to this people, the Israelites. Realize the power you have. Pharaoh has no option but to let God's people go on their way. Now, free from bondage of the Egyptians, you see God's presence, God's companionship with his people, and it's powerful in Exodus chapter 13. If you turn in your Bibles in verse 21, and the Lord was going before them in the pillar of a cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. God was leading them in the daytime, in the nighttime, he brought his people out and he did not let them wander alone. They were his people. God went before them with a cloud or fire, and his presence was even known amongst the people. And could you imagine, even with his presence blatantly known, the Israelites' trust in God's companionship was touch and go. You know the story. Even with physical evidence, they still doubted God. We can see the physical evidence of God doing something. But how easily doubt sinks back into our minds and in our hearts. When they came to the Red Sea with Pharaoh and his army chasing behind them, what happens? Fear begins to take over. They begin complaining, wishing they had stayed in Egypt because of God's desire for relationship, because of the friendship that was taking place. He parts the Red Sea and the Israelites cross to the other side in safety. We know the Israelites were a complaining bunch. Does that sound like any of your friends? Every time they needed something, they would complain and wish they were back in Egypt. Come on, God, why couldn't we just be back in Egypt? Some even wish that they had died in Egypt. How sad. Yet God and realize, realize what God is doing. God and his desire for relationship, what does God do? God provides drinking water, God provides manna to eat from heaven, God provides meat from quail out of nowhere to keep his family satisfied, even throughout the wilderness. What kind of relationship is this? What kind of relationship is this? God goes above and beyond for his people that he calls his own. Yet they keep complaining and complaining and complaining. But God comes through and they celebrate their relationship with him, celebrations, and then very quickly they act as if God had never done anything for them in the first place. And you've been there. Doesn't that sound familiar? Sounds like sometimes the way that we treat God, He comes through over and over and over and over again, and very quickly we forget and begin stressing out and shaking in our boots. God, are you gonna come through this time? God, are you still here? From God's perspective, this also sounds like the relationship many of us have with our family and friends. We feel like, and imagine this, you go above and beyond for your friends. You go above and beyond for your family, and then very quickly they forget and they begin acting like you don't care and you're nowhere to be found. Have you ever experienced that before? Imagine God's perspective. I'm right here. What are you complaining about? You got friends like that. Relationships, even friendships, can be very complicated. Very quickly, as one side of the friendship lose faith in the other side of the friendship, what happens? They feel forgotten. Friends, they feel uncared for, they feel better off as if there was no friendship or relationship at all. You know what? I don't even need their friendship. I don't even need a relationship with them. And while all of these feelings are true and these feelings are very much real, just like the Israelites would have experienced feelings or these feelings towards God, watch this. God's compassion, God's provision for them, God's presence did not stop upon the Israelites. Why am I talking about this? God's desire for relationship with his people causes him to pursue his people with mercy and with grace. Because God desires to have a relationship with you, he does not give up on you. The truth is that all friendships can be tough. How many have some tough friendships? How many have some tough relationships? I see some hands raised pretty high. But what we do today is we look at God's example of relationship. God's example of friendship. We find through God's example that even though it's messy, we find that God, as a true friend, is consistent. God is unmovable. Even, watch, if the other one on the other side of the relationship doesn't see it or forgets about it, God does not stop being there for you. Proverbs 18, 24, read this with me. A person of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. If you look at the journey of the Israelites through the wilderness, as much as you see their disobedience and their constant complaining, even brighter than this, if you would see it, even brighter than the complaining, even brighter than all of the disobedience that's taking place, even brighter than all this, you see a God who is never giving up. Although, if you read God threatens at a time or two, which also sounds like many of our friendships and relationships. But it is in our nature, as the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, to be friendly, and we can't even help it. While Moses is on top of the mount of Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments for God, the Israelites were making a golden calf below. How irreverent, how disrespectful. And why are they doing this? They're thinking God's abandoned us. And because of their completely adulterous act towards God, God does almost abandon the Israelites. Watch what he says, and I laugh at this. This is what he says in Exodus 33. He says, Go up to a lamb flowing with milk and honey, for I will not go up in your midst. That's what God says to them. Because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way. Doesn't that sound like us too? I hope not. We get so angry, so frustrated. How could they not see that the friendship, how can they not see what I've done or or how I've uh treated them kindly in the past? It sounds like some of our relationships and friends with friends, in our anger, we want the whole relationship over with, yet God remembered his friendship with Moses and his people. And in the tent of meeting outside the camp, Moses interceded for God's family. And I love this. You can see at this point God's relationship coming even closer to humanity. Turn in your Bibles, Exodus chapter 33, verse 11. So the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his what? Friend. See, that was the relationship that God was having. That was the relationship, the communication that God was having, even amongst all the dishonoring, all the irreverence. A friendship, a relationship, despite man's continually stepping away, God is what? Stepping closer and closer. Moses with this access presents his case before God in verse 13. Now then, if I have found favor in your sight in any way, please let me know your ways so that I may know you. In order that I may find favor in your sight, consider too that this nation is what? Your people. Moses reminded God, listen, God, these are your people. And because of Moses asked, God would move forward in his relationship with his people and continue to reveal himself to them, distinguishing the Israelites from all the other people on the face of the earth. There was a relationship, there was a friendship established between God and man, but it would take perseverance. Can you say perseverance? There was a relationship, there was a friendship between God and man, but it would take grace. Can you say grace? Can you say mercy? You see, perseverance, grace, and mercy, all of these actions, including many more, were performed by God in order to maintain a relationship and bring that relationship to its fullest. When it comes to our friendships, do we have the same characteristics? I want you to think about your friends. Michael, put up that slime. When it comes to your friends, when it comes to our friendships, do we have the same characteristics as God Himself? Are we perseverant? Do we offer grace? Do we offer mercy? Do we offer forgiveness? Are we patient? Are we willing to persevere? Watch, even when the other party consistently, the keyword consistently, lets us down. You see, God knew what the relationship would flourish into, and so he refused to give up on it. Moses asked God to show him his glory. God's glory was so much he would only allow Moses to see his back. And if you look Moses's face, Face was shining when he left the encounter with God's glory. But it's on Mount Sinai, God says this in Exodus 34. Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, watch, compassionate and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in faithfulness in truth, who keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of his law and sin, yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, inflicting the punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandch grandchildren to the third and fourth generation. Yeah, sin is sin, and there's consequences to sin. But when somebody comes before God and asks for forgiveness, you see who God is and the relationship that he has and desires to have with his creation. God is one, he's compassionate. God is merciful, he is slow to anger. As Jerry Lynn said, he abounds in faithfulness and in truth, and he keeps faithfulness for thousands and who forgives wrongdoing, violation of his law and sin. Compassionate, merciful, slow to anger. These are the characteristics of a God who desires friendship, a God who desires relationship with his created. How? How can this relationship come to its fullest? It's fifteen hundred years later. A relationship between God and man would be secured once and for all through the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Jesus would come as the perfect Lamb to be offered up. And what He would do for you is He would make it so that your sins are removed from you once and for all. He takes on the sins of the world, dies a sinner's death. And in that transaction, everything that belongs to Jesus Christ now belongs to you. Jesus would give his life on the cross, and whoever believes in Jesus Christ enters into that friendship with God where God places his Holy Spirit within us. And because his spirit is within us, we have the power, the ability to operate in the friendship that God has for his people. I love how God addresses his people in Isaiah 41, verse 8. As he's speaking through the prophet Isaiah, he says, But you, Israel, my servant Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham, what is he? My friend. Realize this. God calls you friend. When you step into the covering of who he is, when you give your life to Jesus Christ, could you imagine that you are a friend of God? And you might think that you're a terrible friend to people. And if that's your example of friends, you need to take that example and you need to throw away and you need to see how is God a friend to you? Does God love you? Does God chase after you? Does God offer you grace and mercy? Does God come through for you? And when we take God's example of friendship, we say, God, how can I become more like you? And I'm not even talking about your best buddy or your girlfriend. Those of you who are married, do you treat your own spouse as if they're a friend? Or do you treat them as an enemy? Do you treat them as just a roommate? Or do you use God's characteristic and you say, This is what friendship really looks like? This is what relationship really looks like. As we close this morning, I want us to ask the Lord to strengthen our characteristic of friendship. Strengthen our characteristic of friendship so we can in turn strengthen our friendships, that we can be compassionate, that we can be merciful, that we can be faithful, that we can be forgiving friends as God is our friend. If you would say this morning that, you know what, Pastor Stephen, I don't even know who God is. I haven't experienced a relationship, I haven't experienced a friendship, let me tell you that life is a waste without a relationship with Jesus Christ. Life is a waste without a relationship with Jesus Christ. How do I know that? Look through our history. Kingdoms rise, kingdoms fall. People come, people go, things that people spend hours and years and blood, sweat, and tears, generations building in a snap, everything just falls to the ground. But yet when your life is built on Jesus Christ, when you have a relationship with Jesus Christ, you see that life is filled with purpose. Life becomes what it was intended to be from the very, very beginning. Where you have a relationship with God, where God is ministering to you and through you and accomplishing his assignment for you. Lord, I pray if there's somebody here who has not given their life over to you, I pray that they would believe in their heart and confess with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord. That they would recognize that we are sinners who need a savior. So Jesus steps in and offers his life in our place and says, Let them go free, let them be free from it, and I'll take it, I'll take the burden, I'll take the shame, I'll take the filth. But Jesus doesn't just die on a cross, but he's resurrected in all power and all glory. And through Christ, we have access to that power, to that glory. So, God, if there's someone here who says, I believe in what Jesus Christ did on the cross, I pray that you would make them a new creature in Christ. The old things passed away, gone and dead, fill them with your Holy Spirit, God. Lord, I pray for each and every one of us here. God, as you have a relationship with us, and you set the standard for what relationships are. Relationships who don't give up on people. Relationships who are compassionate and merciful and forgiving and patient and kind. God, to see how you put up with those Israelites and to think how short fuse I have is when it comes to my friends and my family. God, if I could take just a portion of your character and apply it to my relationships, God, I don't know what could be accomplished through those relationships. But I know as I'm operating under your guideship, under your leadship, and under the moving of the Holy Spirit, I know that they're intended for a beautiful purpose. So God, I pray right now, if there's a friend that we're holding a grudge against, God, I pray in the name of Jesus that that grudge will be let go. I pray if we're harboring any unforgiveness or bitterness, God, I pray right now we would let it go. And just like you chased after the Israelites, God, I pray that you would put a desire in our hearts to get working on the Great Commission and tell our friends about Jesus Christ. Put that desire inside of us to persevere, to be committed to, to be compassionate and merciful. God, I thank you for friendships. That we could become stronger as we use your example. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.