We must not let our everyday living so entangle us that we forget our identity in Christ because missional living flows from who we are.

Paul writes,

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Along with the new life Christ gives us, we are also given a new identity and purpose. We participate with the Father in His mission of redemption, but we are defined by what God says about us, not by what we do. 

Let’s examine one of the identifying marks of God’s people.

We are God’s missionary family

We are a family of sons and daughters enjoying the blessings of the Father’s household and sent to pursue Christ’s mission in the world. We are a missionary family. 

When I was a boy, I started working for the “family business” when I was pretty young. I am the son of a farmer. That is part of who I am, and because of that identity it defined what I did.

At first, my dad would take me with him and show me how to do things. Then when I was 12 years old, he took me to a certain field, put me on a tractor, drove off to work on another farm, and I worked until he came back to get me. 

As I grew older and could drive the pick-up, Dad would send me to work in the fields. He would say, “We’re getting ready to plant cotton. Go to the farm and lay off the rows while I stay here and get the planter ready. I have been out there already and the tractor is ready to go.” 

Later, he might send me to cultivate the cotton. Or if a sandstorm was blowing, I would be sent to “fight the sand” to keep it from destroying the young cotton. At other times he might say, “We’re harvesting wheat today. Your brother is on his way with the combine. Go, take the grain truck, and help him with the harvest.”

The Church is the family of God

As followers of Christ, we are not a group of people who are like family, we are family. We read in 1 Timothy 3:15,

…if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

Some translate the word oikō in this verse as “house,” but it is better translated “household.” It is not used to refer to a physical building; it is used to refer to the family of God.

There are several truths about our identity as the family of God we need to consider.

1. God is our Father

Those who are members of the family of God have the privilege of calling God “Father.” We have been adopted into God’s family. We eat at the same table. The way we do life together reveals to the world what it looks like to have God as our Father. 

The Fatherhood of God is not simply a metaphor. Christ has revealed that God is an eternal and perfect Father. Next to our Heavenly Father, even the best earthly father pales in comparison.

2. Christ-followers are brothers and sisters

Family is one of the primary ways the early church identified itself. God is our Father, Jesus is our elder brother, and we are brothers and sisters in Christ. 

The word disciple, which we find so often in the early part of the New Testament, disappears after the book of Acts, and other words like brother and sister replace it throughout the Epistles. 

Pastor, Dhati Lewis, writes,

Paul consistently threads together the Fatherhood of God and believer’s relationships with one another. He cannot think of God outside of His “Fatherness,” and can’t think of believers outside of their “brotherhood.

3. We are a family sent on the Father’s business

Our father is always at work, and as His family, we have been sent to work together in His business. 

As important as it is for us to gather together, the church is neither a meeting nor a meeting place. We are the people of God who give our lives to each other and embrace our purpose of living on mission. The church exists to give a preview of the coming Kingdom of God. Our love for each other and our life together shows the world what a restored relationship with the eternal Father and with one another looks like.

We are a missionary family, sent into the Father’s fields to join Him in His work, and He expects us to be obedient. People in our broken world long for someone to lovingly support and encourage them, but many have never experienced this. To be missional is to show them our loving heavenly Father who makes us into His family… and invite them into this relationship.

Missional Challenge

What are you doing in this season of social distancing to live into your identity as the family of God?