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Article 7: What the Church Is - The Unexpected Family
We believe that the true Church began at Pentecost and is made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language who have been made right with God by His grace through faith alone in Christ alone. These members of God the Father's eternal family are reconciled to one another and united by the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ, of which Jesus Christ is the Head. The true Church is manifest in local churches. The Lord Jesus mandated baptism and the Lord's Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the Church in genuine faith, these practices confirm and nourish the believer.

Family Devotional for the Week
Acts 2:42-47 and Ephesians 3:10 (Read as a Family)

When I was a kid, I enjoyed playing sports and pick-up games of whatever variety around the neighborhood. I was an ok athlete, but certainly not the best. So whenever the captains were chosen and they began picking teams, I was usually chosen somewhere in the middle of the "draft."

This ritual of picking teams was usually pretty predictable. Captains might pick their friends early on, but the bottom line was always trying to pick a team that could win the game. But once in a while a captain would surprise the group by making an unexpected pick. Maybe they noticed something the rest of us missed, or they had a strategy that would require that player in a special way.

In the mission of saving a lost world, God is the captain, and he gets to pick his team. As you read the Bible, it might seem like God often made some surprising picks. He picks the youngest son of Jesse, named David, over his impressive brothers, to be the king. Jesus calls a rag-tag bunch of mostly uneducated fishermen to lead his Gospel movement. And the story goes on and on.

It also seems like a strange pick for God to make known his wisdom to the universe through the church, a group of people that make mistakes. But that is what He did. And just like in all the other strange picks, God's plan eventually plays itself out, and we see that He knew what he was doing all along. He's a great captain! He has a plan and a strategy, and the church is central to his plan!

Talk about as a Family:

• What does it feel like to be picked last?
• What does it feel like to know that God, the Creator of the universe, picked you to be part of his team, the Church?
• Read Acts 2:42-47 again. The Bible tells us that God chose the Church to spread the message of the Gospel and demonstrate the love of Jesus. What does this passage in Acts say about how the Church demonstrates that love to fellow believers? And those not yet a part of the Church?
• How can you love others and serve others—in the church and outside it— in a way that makes Jesus' love known?

Pray together for the Church. Pray for Pastor Greg away on Sabbatical, for Lake Avenue as a whole, and for the Church worldwide.

Family Activity (several options):

• Choose your favorite family game, cards, board game etc. Have a great evening playing this game together. However, instead of focusing on winning, have the focus of the game be who can show each other the most love. Practice encouraging one another. Let someone else go first.
• Think of a way your family can encourage and support someone in your local church. For example, you may know a family that just had a baby or surgery. Bring them a meal and a special homemade get well cards.
• Think of a way your family can encourage your neighbors. For example, deliver homemade cookies, invite their kids to come over and play, or do a service project like mowing their lawn, raking their leaves, taking their trash to the dumpster, or watering their plants.

~John Secrest and Melinda Manus

Monday
Ephesians 4:1-6

Playing high school football was good for me for many reasons. But there are two that really stand out: 1) I was taught (and forced!) to be part of a team; and 2) I experienced what it was like to pursue a common goal as a team. And when I read Ephesians 4:1-6 I see the same things being emphasized by Paul.

Paul calls the church in Ephesus to unity as a team, as a body of believers. How do we do this today? We first need to realize our high calling. Jesus has entrusted us with the message of his kingdom, the message that he was so invested in that he sacrificed himself!

Beyond this mental exercise, we need to be humble, gentle, and patient with one another. We can't be selfish Christians. Our first concerns can't be about ourselves. We have to learn how to put the interests of others before our own! And this won't be easy. Here Paul puts it this way: "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit..."

Effort.

This unity thing won't just happen. We won't learn it magically or by osmosis. No – it takes effort to live in unity with one another. And the good news is that we aren't in this alone. We have one another, which is amazing! But even better than that is the fact that we have the Spirit of the living God inside each one of us, helping us, urging us, and pushing us toward unity and peace.

Lastly, those of us who follow Jesus are to pursue a common goal. What is that? It's the one hope that we have through our one Lord, our one faith, our one baptism, and our one God and Father. Our goal is to experience and to embody the hope that we have been granted by the Father, on the basis of the work of the Son, and through the power of the Spirit.

So as we build our unity as a family of God, we are also called to share our hope with those who do not yet follow Jesus.

Can you imagine a football team who practiced well but never played a game because practice was so amazing? No! Why then do we seem to be so comfortable with being a family of faith who does not "play the game" of sharing our hope in Christ with a watching world?

~Matt Barnes

Tuesday
Acts 2:42-47

In my culture family goes beyond the nuclear family to include aunts, uncles and close friends. Even neighbors and at times strangers are invited into the family. Ours is a culture of inclusion. This makes it easy and normal for me to stand in front of our congregation and address you all as "mi familia".

In "mi familia", when one person is in need, it is everyone's problem. We put our own pursuits aside for the sake of the one that needs the resources or support. That is what being family is. When one is hurting we all hurt. When one has a need, there is no mine and yours, there is only ours. And that is precisely the kind of community represented in Acts 2.

This is my desire for Lake Avenue Church - that we would continue to be, and increasingly so, a people from diverse walks of life, united in Christ Jesus, loving one another (family, friends, strangers) so much so, and in such ways that bear incredible witness to the glory of God. And in so many ways we are. And in so many ways we can continue to grow towards being this "familia".

Padre Santo, bind us closer together as we journey towards you daily. We long to be a church that reflects you grace and your creative splendor. Burden us with the pain that one another bears and let none of us claim anything as our own – that we would freely give to those that you place in our path. And in this way the world would look our way and see you, and desire to know you. In Jesus Name, Amen.

~Mayra Macedo-Nolan

Wednesday
John 17:20-23

One of my favorite paintings is the "Icon of the Trinity" painted by St. Andrey Rublëv (created sometime between 1408 and 1425). A small copy hangs on the wall in my office. There are subtleties to the painting that I love. In it we see three figures sitting around a table. Each wears clothes and colors that represent Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The setting appears to be outside in a village. There is a mountain behind the Holy Spirit, the Old Testament symbol of the place where people met God. There is a tree behind the figure of Jesus, representing the cross and the Tree of Life. Behind the figure of God the Father is a house, the dwelling place of God. The faces of each figure are identical, yet distinct. The shape of the way they are sitting around the table makes a circle, implying their oneness. They are slightly bowed (or inclined) toward the open space in the center of the table at the center of the painting. They are not turned in toward each other. This is a posture of inviting the viewer to that place of fellowship -- drawing us into relationship. There is a bowl of food at the center of the table, too. It is a feast they are having together and it is a feast we are being invited into. We, the viewers, are the audience. We are the special guests at the tables and it is as if the whole event has been arranged just for us.

Have you ever had the experience of someone going far above and beyond to think about you, prepare for you, or plan specifically with you in mind? It has got to be one of the most special and humbling of feelings. The thing that jumps out to me in this pass is how wonderful, beautiful, and amazing it is to know that even before he went to the cross Jesus had us in mind. He was thinking of us. He prayed for you and me, and all of those who would believe in Him one day. In the Gospels we have recorded not only The Lord's Prayer, in which he gives us an example and teaches us how we ought to pray, but we also have recorded the Lord's prayer for us, in which he speaks to God on our behalf. John 17:20-23 is a portion of that prayer. Earlier in the chapter he prays for unity (vs. 11), for protection from the evil one (vs. 15), and for holiness (vs. 17). It is noteworthy to see that the subject he returns to toward the end of his prayer is that of unity. This should signify an exclamation point in our minds. The unity of his people is of utmost priority to God. It is something we should never take lightly.

You can Google search, or find an image of Rublëv's Icon of the Trinity at this site:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Trinity_Icon#mediaviewer/File:Andrej_Rublëv_001.jpg

Take some time to dwell with this painting. See what jumps out to you as you contemplate each figure. Allow its imagery to pull you into that unified relationship with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

~Jeremy Rose

Thursday
Ephesians 3:10-11

When I was a kid, I enjoyed playing sports and pick-up games of whatever variety around the neighborhood and parks. I wasn't a great athlete, but not too bad. So whenever the captains were chosen and they began picking teams, I was usually chosen somewhere in the middle of the "draft." It never feels good to be picked last. Captains might pick their friends early on, but the bottom line was always trying to pick a team that could win.

This ritual was usually pretty predictable. But once in a while a captain would surprise the group by making an unexpected pick. Maybe they noticed something the rest of us missed, or they had a strategy that would require that player in a special way.

In the mission of redeeming a lost world, God is the captain, and he gets to pick his team. As you read the Bible, from a human perspective, God seems often to make some surprising picks. God picks a scared farmer named Gideon to lead his armies. The youngest son of Jesse, named David, is chosen over his impressive brothers to be the king. Jesus calls a rag-tag bunch of mostly uneducated fishermen to lead his gospel movement, etc...., etc....

Looking back on the landscape of history, from a human perspective, it sure seems like a strange pick for God to make known his wisdom to the universe through the church. But that is what he has done. And just like in all the other strange picks, God's plan eventually plays itself out and we see that He knew what he was doing. He's a great captain! He has a plan and a strategy, and the church is central to his plan! So, whatever your history or experience is with the local church, we need to hang in there and trust that God knows what he is doing.

As you reflect on the priority of the local church in God's plan, what role do you play on that team? How can you love others and serve others in your local fellowship in a way that makes known the manifold wisdom of God?

~John Secrest

Friday
Hebrews 10:23-25

My favorite places growing up were my grandparent's house and nature. I would walk down the street to grandma's house to eat from the garden, climb the trees, lie in the grass-like carpet, go to the creek to pick tiger lilies, and talk to the cows. I would make up worship songs as I went along my way. I loved the safety of the country; knowing all my neighbors, where I could get brown eggs, and which neighbors would buy "school fundraiser oranges" from me. These are the safe places that I am constantly seeking for my children. Raising children in the city is very foreign for me. At times, I mourn safe open spaces where they can run free and find safe shelter in family.

Therefore, living as "church family" has a new and special meaning for me. The city streets and parks between our apartment, the church, and our neighbor's homes have become my children's playground. Seeing flowers grow from the concrete, walking the concrete ledges and conversations about God's love for the many people we encounter on the streets is where my children's faith is formed. While I met God in nature, my children are seeing His love lived out through how God uses His church to rescue and reclaim the city in His name.

We do not have biological family close by, so the local church has become our family. It is important for me to know my girls are seeing others live out their faith. When my girls can witness a baptism, child dedication, or communion service, their faith grows a little deeper and their security in the church family a little stronger. Hebrews 10:24 says, "Let's also think about how to motivate one another to show love and do good works."

I am sure I am not the only parent in our church that is attempting to form new memories, create safe spaces, and cultivate spiritual growth for her children. Therefore, let's all promise to include our children in our "meeting together" in the times when we encourage each other to show love, do good works, and confess our hope. Let's believe together that we will one day see the city changed for the glory of God through these coming generations!

~Melinda Manus

Saturday
1 Peter 2:9

Before we ever had low-cost Bibles to put into hotel drawers, the Church knew the stories of Scripture through paintings, preaching, and less direct forms of communication. First-hand access to the Bible was not fully and truly accessible to average citizens. But then, the floodgates opened and everything changed. When Martin Luther completed and published his translation of the whole Bible into vernacular German in 1534, the truth of God's Word became available to everyone in a new way! Centuries later, spiritually hungry Christians all over the world are satisfied when they gain access to the printed Word, many times for the first time.

Verses like 1 Peter 2:9 teach that all of us, together more than separately, have a special role to play in our world. The Church serves God alone with our whole lives and everything we have – making us "holy" (i.e. set apart and reserved for his purposes). We are "royal" in the sense that God is the ultimate Royalty and we share God's rule as family. And we are "chosen" out of the love and purposes of God to be an entirely new kind of people to show the world the love and purposes of God. All of these benefits generate praise from our lips and by our loudest declarations and our life together before God we beckon others into this unexpected family. So, this cannot be done alone. In fact, it is not at all the case that every individual believer is a priest. Rather, all of us, together, are a priesthood.

Peter wrote these words because his audience had responded to the Word with faith. Luther put God's Word in everyone's hands so that they, too, could respond with faith. If you have responded to God in faith, ask God how we fit together as a unified priesthood. If you have not yet joined this family, or have yet to find your place in this priesthood, do not hesitate to call up a pastor or church leader to talk about next steps.

~Jeff Liou