God's Chosen Family

When I was born to my parents years ago, they didn't choose me from a litter.  I also did not have the choice of my parents or whether I would have a brother or sister:  God sovereignly brought us together as family and I learned to live with and love them all despite our differences.  A day came when I sought the permission of Laura's parents and asked for her hand in marriage.  After being united by God in matrimony new branches were added to the families we were already connected to.  God has graciously given us sons who are growing up and perhaps will someday enlarge our family even further.

My views concerning the church, the Body of Christ, align well with this approach to family relationships that acknowledges the wisdom and sovereignty of God.  Even as I did not choose my parents, I did not choose my Sunday School teachers, pastor or church I grew up attending and later served in.  A day came when the LORD guided me and my family to settle in Australia and serve in a different fellowship of believers which is part of the same Body of Christ.  We were in no way divorced or cut off from fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ in the United States but the move has enlarged our circle and enriched our lives.

I recall an impactful incident when I attended an evangelism course out of state years ago.  It was a gathering of people at a conference who were keen to share their faith and I perceived in many an undercurrent of dissatisfaction and disdain of their current congregations which did not share their passion for evangelism.  One person murmured, "To me, this is church.  This is where I really fit in."  There was a sense of disappointment as our time together drew to a close because they knew they were heading back to churches that had little emphasis on evangelism.  Their hope was to attend the next gathering of these folks and steeled their resolve to endure months of isolation from "real church."

From my perspective, this seemed to be a case of a hand desiring to be cut off from a body to be with other hands.  Could it be God had sovereignly placed them in a church which had little emphasis on evangelism because they were to take up the charge themselves?  There is a draw for people to be around people with whom they share things in common, and in the church it is Jesus Christ alone who unites us.  There is nothing wrong with evangelists, missionaries, teachers, pastors, women, men and youth gathering together as distinct groups within a church or even meeting together for conferences.  A problem arises when we, out of dissatisfaction with others God has sovereignly joined to us, cut ourselves off from other believers and them from us.  The commitment God showed to the children of Israel because of the covenant He made with them is a good example for us to follow.  Jesus has made a covenant with us by grace through faith, and we ought to extend grace freely to others as we have freely received grace from Him.

Since the church is the Body of Christ comprised of different members with different functions and gifts according to God's will, let us acknowledge our call and the place where He has us is His doing.  It may be God will say to you as Abraham concerning your home church, "Leave your family and go to the land I show you."  Faith in God must be answered with obedience and trust to do so even when it is not our plan or idea.  God may also put you in a position like Jesus who was sent by God to the lost sheep of Israel who would reject Him.  Paul was raised as a Jew yet was called to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, and his love for his fellow Jews never waned.  Persecution may scatter believers and physical distance may separate us but this will never sever the fellowship with have with one another through Jesus Christ.  Like Paul's advice to the married that they should not seek to be loosed, it is good to bring that level of commitment to serve and contribute at the church where God has us.