The benefits of a Church family

In our day and age, people of all ages, but especially our youth, are searching desperately for something.  And at the foundational, bare-bones level of what people are searching for is the sense of needing to feel loved, the need to feel wanted, and the need to belong.  For example, when you do a little research into why people join bizarre and abnormal groups or movements, like cults or like the LGBTQ, you find that these three elements are always present – people join these things, even if they don’t make sense to the person, because they offer love, acceptance and belonging.

            If you research further, you find that these groups offer these things but only on the surface.  Once you get involved in these groups, things drastically change and it’s difficult, and in some cases impossible, to leave them.

            Only Jesus can truly offer lasting, sustained love, acceptance and belonging to someone.  I pray today that you know that and that you know Him as your Lord and Savior.

When Jesus left, He left us with a Commission – go and make disciples.  As disciples are made, local churches are formed all over the world with the same mission.  Jesus has commissioned the local church to display and to share His love, acceptance and belonging to this lost world. 

With all of this said, we turn to 2 John.

At the point of writing 2 John, he’s an old man, well-respected in the Church and holding a high level of authority as a leader primarily in the Ephesian Church.  2 John is a letter small enough to fit on one sheet of paper, less than 300 Greek words long.  It’s short and to the point but has a clear message.  It’s debated whether or not this is to a local church or to a specific woman in a church – he just calls her “the elect lady and her children.”  Either way, it’s a personal letter but was obviously allowed to be shared.

For the sake of post length, I will simply make reference to the passages listed with their connected points.

1)      A church family has a shared bond.  (v.1-3)

-This is a shared bond of love and truth.  These two terms in the Greek refer to a love that delights in another and the truth of the Gospel.  A great benefit of being a part of a local church family is that believers are connected together through a common love for one another and the truth of the Gospel.

2)   A church family has a shared conviction.  (v.4-11)

-This is to say a shared conviction for Truth and for one another.  A church family of believers will seek the welfare of each other while sharing in walking with the Lord, side by side, as He works and sanctifies in the lives of each individual.  The Christian life is difficult so the shared difficulties and challenges further bring believers together.  The shared conviction to stand for the truth of God's Word and His gospel is also a powerful bond in the church family.  When all come together to stand and defend a common truth, a familial bond is born.

3)  A church family has a shared fellowship.  (v.12-13)

-Simply put, such a bond with others in a church family brings mutual joy and hospitality between its members.  Genuine believers coming together in genuine worship of Jesus, serving one another, showing love and concern for one another, and standing and walking in the same Truth together develops a church family bond that cannot be broken.

A church family has a shared bond, conviction and fellowship.

Thus, we can say: Psalm 122:1 – “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let’s go into the house of the Lord.’”