We Are Family Week 3 - Caring for Family
- Pastor Brian Loudermilk
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Recap:
Week #1 What tears down a family: Bitterness, gossip, unresolved conflict, and offense.
Week #2 What builds up a family: build a culture of Honor, Humility, Hunger, and Hospitality.
Verse Reading: Ephesians 2:19–22
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
We don’t just gather in the same room and come to church together, but we are called to care for one another.
4 ways we can care for one another according to scripture:
I. Carry Burdens
Galatians 6:2 2 Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ.
• The Greek word bear is barē – A barē is an overwhelming, excessive weight. It is a burden so heavy that it completely exceeds a single person’s capacity to endure.
When we do so, we fulfill the law of Christ
Horse illustration:
One horse by itself can pull 8,000 pounds.
Simple math: Two horses together could pull 16,000 pounds.
Kingdom math: Two trained horses together can pull 24,000 pounds.
- In the Kingdom of God, Kingdom principles work differently.
We think simple math = I cannot pull the heavy load I am faced with. Kingdom math says when we are yoked together, we are multiplying, not adding.
We can do much more together.
Galatians 6:5 5 For each will have to bear his own load.
Phortion (load) was a standard soldier’s kit, a ship’s freight, or a person’s regular pack. Book-bag illustration and the difference in mentality.
II. Invest Spiritually
Hebrews 3:12–13 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Exhort – (parakaleite) can mean encourage, urge, appeal to, or come alongside someone.
• The frequency is every day; this is not a Sunday task. This means community matters every day, not just on Sunday.
• Reason: verse 12: So that you don’t have an evil, unbelieving heart
verse 13: That your heart may not be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
• The danger is gradual:
temptation → deception → continued sin → hardening → drifting from God.
Hebrews 10
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
III. Pray Together
James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
IV. Celebrate and Grieve
Romans 12:15 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
We have a shared communal life.
As believers, we should look at the condition of our neighbors and allow our own hearts to be appropriately affected by those conditions.
Duty of Joy
Duty of Compassionate Sorrow
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