In this piece, we'll be looking at a very interesting topic that will help us appreciate and know more on the reason why Jesus has come to the earth. We're going to be looking in depth at the “family of God”. How do you and I fit into this family? What is our relevance in this family? What is the makeup of this family? Why is the essence of this family critical to the light of the world? How is it that we are called the family of God?
I'm going to start with a Scripture in First John chapter three, we're going to read several Scriptures pointing to the same thing, because many of us are going to be encountering this particular concept of the family of God for the first time, and for some of us; it is to deepen our understanding on the family of God. So, 1 John chapter 3:1-2 will be our first reference.
1 John chapter 3:1-2, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
I want us to pay attention to the words that are used in this particular verse. Behold! Behold means look, it's a mystery, it is a wonder. “Behold what manner of love the Father.” We have seen love, we have seen the Father, has bestowed: look at the word ‘bestowed on us’; that ‘us’ there, refers to you and I. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called. So, there is a calling on us and that calling is as a result of the bestowment of the Father, that we should be called children of God: it is not a right; it's a privilege.
Behold what manner of love; the love is deep. The love is unspeakable, unexplainable, that the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Do you see exclamation at the end of God in your Bible? What manner of love; this is the mystery we want to unravel by the help of the Holy Spirit. What manner of love the Father; the direction of the love is the Father. I'm sure for many of us as Bible students; we understand that every time love is being mentioned in Scripture, it is always most of the time attributed to the Father. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God: the Father. There are three that bear records in heaven, the Word, the Father and the Spirit; the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. So, when we look at love; it is almost 100% attributed to the Father.
So, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore, the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed, what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
Now, for the other Scriptures we will be reading, we'll be taking reference from this First John chapter three. So, let's start with verse one. ‘Behold what manner of love the Father’; the family of God is built on the Father. Whenever we hear the family of God, or we come in contact with the family of God; the Father is the pillar of the family. Now, as we look at the family of God, we'll also be making reference to how God wants us to build our family; because family is the smallest unit of the society.
I want to make bold, to make a statement that everything in the society rises and falls on the family. Everything in the society rises and falls on the family fabric. So if we look at our societies today, whether you are in Africa or Asia or America or Europe, the makeup and what is going on in the families, reflect on the societies. So, the family of God is our model and our example. To get our society right, we must get the family right.
The Father is the pillar of the family. The Father we're making reference to is God. God is the pillar of His family. The family of God is built on God. Without God, there is no family of God. I want to show us a Scripture in Ephesians chapter 3:14-19, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family; it is from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we will not be confused of the kind of Father this Scripture is making reference to; he made us to understand the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. That's why we're looking at the family of God, because the family is named after Him: ‘the Father’; that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory.
Now, every time you see this Scriptures, and the Father is mentioned, what come next, regarding blessing, regarding grace is not for those that are outside the family; it is for those in the family. When you are reading the inheritances of your family, or the wealth or the assets of your family, do you call outsiders? No! It is for those in the family. So, the Scripture is saying from verse 16 that He would grant you, because you have become a member of the family; according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints.
Now, we're going to dissect this Scripture, what is the width, and length, and depth and height-to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now, from Ephesians 3:14-19, we were introduced to our Lord Jesus Christ. So, He is not just the Father; He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father, we have said is God; He is the pillar of the family. Now, we are introduced to our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the elder brother; He is the Firstborn. The Bible calls Him the Firstborn among many brethren.
Now, how do we know this? Now, God; the Father, the pillar of our family, had set up His family in such a way that everything take reference from the elder brother. So, if you are coming into the family of God, you cannot be the first; the first position has been occupied. You are coming to become part of the family but not the first. Everyone coming into the family is taking reference from the Firstborn. Everybody coming into the family is taking reference from the elder brother; so He is the model. The Father has done it in such a way that our elder brother; Jesus Christ, if you're born again, is the Model of the Father.
So, when you see the elder brother, you have seen your Father. That's why Jesus was saying to Philip, when Philip said, show us the Father and we will be satisfied. Elder Brother, can you move aside; can you just show us the Father and we'll be okay? And Jesus said to him, have you been with Me, have you seen Me and you are still asking Me to show you the Father?
I want to show us a Scripture, Romans chapter eight. This is a study, and so we're going to read a lot of Scriptures that will help deepen our understanding, and help us position ourselves correctly in the body of Christ. Romans chapter 8:29, “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” That He might be; you can’t topple Him, no matter the godliness in you, you can’t topple Christ, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Colossians chapter 1:15, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Remember where we read in Ephesians chapter three; he said, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom all the whole family in heaven and on earth is named. So, one of the things I want to call our attention to; is that the family of God is not just on the earth: the family of God is in heaven and on the earth. So, angels are part of the family of God, the 24 Elders, the four living creatures, and all creation; that's why this Scripture is important. Colossians 1:15, he said, He is the firstborn over all creation. He is not just the firstborn over all human beings; He is the firstborn over all creation.
So, that's why when we read Revelation, we can understand what the heavenly creations were saying, when they said that the Lamb of God has redeemed us. So they were not just talking about people on the earth, they were also talking about themselves; He has redeemed us to God, because He is the firstborn over all; all creation. He is the image of the invisible God, firstborn over all creation; that is our elder brother, Jesus Christ. And that's why in the family of God, everything takes reference from Jesus Christ. You cannot say you are in the family of God, or profess that you are one that is in the family of God, if you are not taking reference from Jesus Christ. That's why John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” ‘Will have the life’; that admits him or her into the family of God. Everlasting life is the life that admits men into the family of God.
Galatians chapter 4:6-7, “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ”. You are an heir of God, not because you are righteous on your own or you are keeping the ten (10) commandments or your attendance in the church is the most untainted; it is because you have become an heir of God through Christ. Without Christ, you are not an heir of God. So, our admission into the family of God is Christ. There is an adage that says, if you don't accept Jesus, if you don't take Jesus as who He is, and relate with Him as who He is, you can’t see God. No matter how pious you are, no matter how religious you are, no matter the number of times you pray in a day, if you are not in Christ, you are not in God: that's the makeup of the family. The reason I'm reading all these Scripture is so that we can see it in the pages of the Scripture that Jesus has been so instituted by God as the One that admits into the kingdom.
I want to show us a Scripture in Luke chapter 15:11, that's the story of the prodigal son; then He said: “A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So, he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
Many of us have been reading this parable of the lost son, but many of us have been reading it with our Sunday school mindsets, and what they told us; that when the father divided his goods, he gave him his portion and the father still had it. No! If you read verse 12, He said, and so he divided to them; he had two sons, if he divided to them, that means he divided to his two sons. Remember, this son has left his family when the father divided his livelihood among them; he took what fell to him and traveled.
When he traveled, he left his family; you can’t travel alone and still say you are with your family. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. “But when he came to himself, (who was this particular person we are talking about? A son! When he came to himself, he returned back to his son-ship mindset) he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! There is a mindset we want to get from this parable. He said, I will arise and go to my father, (you will realize that he did not call him my master, or that man in that country) and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”
“And he arose and came to his father’. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
So, when you leave your family; you are dead. Anyone that leaves the family of God is dead. What happened to Adam was that he died; God said to him, the day you eat of the fruit in the midst of the garden, you will die. Meaning that; the family of God has principles and rules. What makes us die in the family is when we go outside the instruction and the principles of the family of God. The statement of the father is what I want to pay attention to; verse 24, for this my son was dead. Many of us die from the family of God. We are like this prodigal son; lost, why? We separated ourselves from our family. We traveled; we traveled and joined ourself with a citizen of another country. We travel and join ourself to the citizen of another country.
In this parable, it is like there are two countries; another country and the country of the father. Just like in this time, there are two kingdoms: the Kingdom of His dear Son; the Kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, when you disobey and turn away from the kingdom of His dear Son; the Kingdom of light, you have traveled and you are dead. For the father, he said, for this, my son was dead, and is alive again. What made him alive again? He returned home.
When we have an issue, when we’ve sinned and come short of the glory of God, it is not to turn to another country; it is to go back to the Father and be alive again. When Adam sinned and his wife, they hid themselves; the same mistake that we're still making today. Don't hide yourself away from God. When you hide yourself away from God, you are beginning a journey away from your family. If you mess up, if you sin, John said, we have an Advocate; our elder brother is the Advocate: He is by the right hand of the Father. Saying Father, this is Your son; he has admitted his mistakes and I'm standing in for him. That's why You sent Me to die and by My blood, his sins are wiped away; and you are restored back to your place; don't let the devil lie to you.
The family of God is a family built on the pillar of the love of the Father. That's why we started from that Scripture in 1 John chapter three, what manner of love? In Psalms, you know what the angel said? What is man that You are mindful of him? Nor the son of man that You visit him.
So, how do we connect back to the family? What is our connection in the family? We have been talking about the family of God; we have mentioned the Father being the pillar, God the Father. Now we have looked at the Elder brother, the firstborn; Jesus, His place is the place of grace. When Jesus is advocating for you, He is advocating in grace. You don't deserve it. How many of us can pay Jesus to be our attorney? He is our attorney and the Father paid the price. He paid the ultimate price by the instruction of the Father, to stand in for us as our attorney. In our contemporary times today, there's a man called Femi Falana; he has a firm. In fact, when they say that Falana is going to represent you in court; it is as though as you have won the case: that's a mortal man. Jesus Christ is representing your case daily before the Father; you have won the case.
The family of God has being skilled by God Himself in the direction of your favor. He said if anyone will believe; he will not perish but have everlasting life. So, what is required of you? It is required of you to stay in the family. Your security is in the family. This son was exposed to harsh conditions because he left his family. In your family, you are shielded. Is that not what is in our contemporary families? A good family will shield the family members. When you go out to harsh conditions and you come back home, you are supposed to be at rest; there is rest in the family. That's why the Bible says in Hebrews, there remaineth a rest for the people of God; that rest is in the family. As long as you are in the family; you are secured, you are cared for, you are celebrated. Is that not what family supposed to represent? Every child in the family is celebrated, encouraged and supported: that's what the family is for.
When you go out, partnering with the Holy Spirit, to do the assignment of the end-time, you must come back to the family and be restored. Your honor is restored, your glory is restored, your wisdom is restored, your power is restored, your might is restored, and your riches are restored.
So, how do we connect in the family of God? How do we know that all of us are connected? The family of God is a family that is connected by blood and by the Spirit. Ephesians chapter 2:18-19, “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.”
Through Christ Jesus, we have access by one Spirit; that one Spirit is the Holy Spirit. We are siblings in the family of God, because we are connected by blood; the blood of Jesus, and by the Spirit of Jesus. Verse 19, Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, another word for household is family.
What did he say? Now therefore, because we have access by one Spirit, we are no longer strangers and foreigners; even though we are from different states and our language is different in terms of tribal language or tongue; we are sharing the same blood of Jesus, and the Spirit of Jesus. So, we are no longer foreigners and strangers; we are connected by the Spirit of God. So, in the household of God, there are no foreigners. In the household of God; the family of God, there are no strangers: they are people from different nations, connected by the blood of Jesus, and by the Spirit of Christ; that's how we connect.
What is the language of the family of God? Galatians chapter 5:22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love; we are all connected by the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit is love. The language of the family of God is love. If we go back to Ephesians 3:14-19 we read; I want us to read from the verse 17, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you (members of the family of God), being rooted and grounded in love (love is the language of the family), may be able to comprehend with all the saints (the saints are your siblings and my siblings; connected by the blood and the Spirit of Christ) what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”
This is how you and I carry the nature of the Father. When we speak the same language, there is unity. Love is our unifying force. The Bible calls it the bond of perfection. The bond of our perfection is love. That's why in First Corinthians, Apostle Paul was saying, if I speak with tongues of angels, and I have no love, I am nothing. He said if I understood all prophecies and I can prophesy from today till tomorrow, and there is no love; I'm just making noise. Love is the language of the family of God, and it is love that unites us.
Connection in the family comes by the Father. John chapter 6:44-46, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’” The father in the family is the body of knowledge of the family. The Bible says in Malachi that God is looking, why is God interested in families? He is looking for godly off-springs. Why is He looking for godly off-springs? It is because He knows there is a father that He has put in that family; that will become a body of knowledge for the children. God said, I know Abraham, he will teach his children after Me; He did not say Sarah. I know Abraham, Abraham is the father. God changed his name from Abram to Abraham, the father of nations, because God puts in Abraham, a body of knowledge that can successfully deliver nations. The fathers have a responsibility to teach.
If you go to the book of Proverbs, Solomon was always making reference to the father. Listen to the instruction of your father and the correction. Verse 45 of John chapter 6, “It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father.” So, the father teaches; the father becomes the body of knowledge.
I want to show us a Scripture in Proverbs where Solomon was making us understand the family makeup. Proverbs chapter 2:1-2, “My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding”. Now in Proverbs chapter 3:1, “My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; (it’s the Father) for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you.”
Proverbs 1:8, “My son, hear the instruction of your father, and do not forsake the law of your mother; for they will be a graceful ornament on your head, and chains about your neck.” Do we see it? The way God has structured His family, is the way He wants the family on earth; His people, His sons to also raise their family. Jesus said, those that are taught by the Father. The Father is the connection. Everybody gravitates to the Father. Why? This is because a true family carries the DNA of the Father.
Ephesians chapter 1:4-5, “Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,” It is the good pleasure of the Father.
So, what happens in the family is according to the good pleasure and the will of the Father. So if the Father wills, He wants Brother Dennis to be the one in charge of His Company in the USA; it is according to His good pleasure. If the Father's pleasure is to make Sister Joy, to be the head of His Conglomerates in Nigeria; it is according to the good pleasure of His will. That is how the family of God runs and nobody is jealous of another; we know all of us are connected by the Father, and no one is less of a son than the other.
If we read on Luke chapter 15, about the parable of the lost son, the elder brother came from the fields and was shocked about what was happening in the family, that how can a son go away from the family, and come back. Do you know many of us are like that? There are children of God right now as we are speaking, they are still prostituting. There are children of God that still belongs to this house; this family, that right now, like that lost son, they are dead in drinking, many of them are still dead in armed robbery, many of them are dead in lying, and many of them are doing several things; but a time will come as we pray and partner with the Holy Spirit, that they will be convicted, and they will come back to themselves and find their Father.
When they find their Father, we that are the elder brothers should not come from the field and say, Father, how can You, after this person has killed 15 people? She even confessed that she was flying in the night, flew across a whole family and killed them. How can you forgive this kind of misbehavior? And the Father will say what He said to the elder brother, He says, don't worry, let us rejoice. That’s why the Bible says there is rejoicing in heaven, because the whole family of God is not just on earth; it is in heaven and on earth. There is rejoicing in heaven, over one soul that turns to God. Celebration!! Big one, that My son that was dead, is alive again.
So, as children of God; as adopted sons of God, we must carry on the mindset and the nature of our Father which is love. For God, so love….. 1John chapter three, what manner of love……The nature of the family of God is the Father's nature. If you see a wicked family, check the father; the father must be wicked. If you see a very compassionate family, check the father; the father must be compassionate. If you see a very knowledgeable family, check the father; the father must be a knowledgeable man. So, when we see God; when we see the family of God, we must see God. Whatever God is, that is what is family must exemplify.
In Genesis chapter 1:26-28, “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
So, God made man in His image, and after His likeness and He blessed them, He said, be fruitful, multiply, replenish, and have dominion. So, the man that God made was representing Him; carried His nature. The nature of the family is the nature of the Father. Matthew chapter 5:48, Jesus was also saying, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Be perfect; be holy as your Father is holy. It is possible, whatever your Father is, you can become; it's in your DNA. Jesus said, as I am, so are you in this world. He was not saying it as a frivolous statement, He was convinced about it; because the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within you, and that same Spirit quickens your mortal body.
Lastly, we're going to look at how the family of God grows. How does the family of God grow?
Ephesians chapter 4:4-6, “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; (what is your calling? To be children of God; sons of God) one Lord, one faith, one baptism; (we must all be baptized into Christ) one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. That's how we grow.
#. Number One: The Father must be above all. Number two: the Father must be through all. Number three: the Father must be in you all. Let's now break it down; verse 6, one God and Father of all, who is above all. God said, if I be your Father, where's My honour? The honour you give to your Father is what set Him above you. As children of God, we must honor God because He must be above all. And the lesser will be blessed of the greater, not the other way round. The lesser must be blessed of the greater. So, God must be above us all; God is not our errand boy, He is our Father. And if He is our Father, we must give Him is honour. So, you must honor God; that is how He is above all, all of us must honor Him: that's how we grow.
When you honour your earthly father, he will say you will live long. God Himself put it in His law; honour your father, and your mother that your days may be long on the earth. If your father in this context; is an eternal Father, and He blesses you; He bless you eternally. So, He must be above all. God must not be equated with your biological father. God must not be equated with your president. You must honor God more than your biological father; you must honour God more than your president. You must know God more than anything; He must be above all.
Number Two: He must be through all. Everything you are doing, you must see God. Do everything you are doing as unto God, not man. As the family of God, God must be through all; do everything as unto God. As you relate with your siblings, relate with them as unto God. As you relate with outsiders, relate with them as unto God. He must be through all.
Number Three: He is in you all. God must be in you. God must dwell in you by His Spirit. The Bible says; how do we know? He said, we know by the Spirit of God in us; that's how we know that we are the children of God; by His Spirit in us. If the Spirit of God is not in you, you cannot love; you can't carry the nature of God.
The nature of God is possible for you at this time; by your acceptance of Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The body of Christ will grow, with this united front, one God, one Father. One God and Father of all: that’s the unity, that is the cord of love that must bind us together; the love of God! See the prayer of Jesus in John chapter 17:20-22, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us.” We must be united in the love of the Father, we must be united in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we must be united in the fellowship of the Spirit.
That they also may be one in Us (Us talks about the trinity; the Godhead), that the world may believe that You sent Me. So, how will the world believe that Jesus has been sent? It is through the family of God. The family of God is the evidence on earth that Jesus was sent. And for you and I to prove it true, we must live with the consciousness that we are part of the family. The Bible says that those that dwell in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty: those that dwell; don't travel, don't turn away, but dwell! Abide! You have found a home in Christ; you have found a family in Christ; remain rooted and abound in love: that is how to grow, that is how to flourish.
Be planted in the house of God, be planted in the family of God and remain there. A plant that uproots itself often can never grow. Remain planted, firmly fixed, firmly rooted in Christ, and our growth and our profits will be evident to all.
