L1 Sunday 1 January We Are Part of God’s Family
A: The imagery evoked in Ephesians 3:14, 15 (Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians) is pure worship in admiration of God the Father for His power and authority over heaven and earth. By His power, everyone belongs to the family of God. Naming determines our identity – who we are, and who we’re related to. We receive our name from God. I sense humility, gratitude, awe, and reverence in Paul’s prayer. The hope found there is belonging and a relationship with God.
Other verses describing God as the Father:
Matthew 6:9 – Jesus instructs the disciples to pray ‘Our Father in heaven…’ and leads them in prayer in Luke 11:2
John 20:17 – Jesus’ and Mary’s conversation after His resurrection ‘…I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.’
‘The family of heaven and the family of earth are one.’ (Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 832)
Exodus 3:10 – God commanded Moses to go to Pharoah to lead ‘My people the children of Israel out of Egypt’.
Exodus 5:1 – In obedience to God Moses and Aaron went to Pharoah and told him ‘Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.’
Galatians 3:26, 29 – We’re God’s children by faith in Jesus. If we’re Jesus’ children we’re descendants of Abraham according to the promise (Genesis 12:7).
A: The three verses above say God calls us His. We’re His children, His people. This is encouraging because we’re shown how relational God is. Our relationship is a close one, it’s generational (Exodus 6) going back to Abraham whose name means ‘father of many’. ‘Father Abraham had many sons and many sons had father Abraham. I am one of them and so are you. So, let’s just praise the Lord.’ Unforgettable kids’ song lyrics.
God promised Abraham to give his descendants the land of Canaan (Israel). Through Christ, we have been reconciled to God inheriting the promised land. We’re loved by God so much that He restored our relationship with Him for us to dwell in a home prepared by Him. ‘These all died in faith, [‘Abel’, ‘Enoch’, ‘Noah’, ‘Abraham’, ‘Sara’] not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.’ ‘But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He hath prepared for them a city.’ (Hebrews 11:13, 16)
A: A world where we treated everyone as family – a healthy family with everyone lovingly caring for each other would take away a substantial amount of suffering in the world today. We can learn to relate better to all human beings as our brothers and sister by community, looking out for the needs of others.