All Nations is a Loving Global Family
By Bertram Inglesmit, an ANCT field worker
When I was a new believer, I was deeply attracted to the words of David, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psalm 133:1) My brothers and sisters in the student group I joined were special — we cared for one another and were joyful together. We met often to worship together, we went places together, and we looked for opportunities to “accidentally” bump into one another.
This was a demonstration to me of a key principle: God wants us to be happy. More than that, He wants us to be happy together.
All Nations takes the healthy family as its model. One of our core values is that “we are a joyful global family.” What does this mean?
The Basis of Healthy Families: Laying Down of Self
Through the years, I have found many other communities who tried to live out the call to be a part of the Christian family. They did this in various ways, and all were convinced that they were doing as well as they could. Some communities did better than others.
Some communities were marked by joy, peace and unity. In these families, no one was favoured, and no one was left behind. They were living beacons of hope to the people around them that Jesus can change lives of ordinary people for better. As Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” Whilst they had their problems and differences, these families managed to reveal Christ in their daily lives.
The more the members’ fleshly desires were indulged, the more dysfunctional the families were. In the extreme, some families openly displayed their in-fighting and jostling for influence. The love of Jesus was displayed to the world to the extent that the individual members, inside and outside leadership, were willing to lay down self.
Paradoxically, those people who were most willing to relinquish their own good for the sake of others had the most joy and life. The reason is simple: as we die to self, we become alive to the Holy Spirit, which releases the gift of joy. (Galatians 5:22)
As a child, I was brought up in a dysfunctional family. We did not understand love. We only understood how to take care of ourselves and to fight to get what we wanted. The result was that as a family we were bitterly divided. There are some uncles that I never met, and some feuds continue seventy years after they began, even though the people who started it have long since passed away. This is not how Jesus wants us to live.
Let’s live the way Jesus intended us to. This is the way to true joy and peace.
Privileges of a Family Member
As a member of a Christian family, we have many awesome privileges. We become part of a bigger whole, with a united sense of purpose. We find meaning in more than our own immediate needs. We are not alone. Instead, we have joyful times with one another. We work together and play together. We find that others love and serve us and see to our best interests. They hurt when we hurt and rejoice when we rejoice.
We are not meant to take these privileges for ourselves and to sponge on others. We give back to our brothers and sisters in our own unique way. Each one of us has a special role in the family, and we are to contribute to it. As Peter writes, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace.”
Responsibilities of a Family Member
In every family, there is work to be done. We cheerfully do the tasks assigned to us. We do not ask, “What’s in it for me?” but seek the benefit of others and the family as a whole.
Each one of us has special gifts given by God. It is our duty to develop those gifts in a humble way and make them freely available to the family. We do not seek glory and favour for ourselves or for our gifts. Instead we follow the example of Jesus who put on servants’ clothes and washed the disciples’ feet.
We encourage others to grow in maturity and love by words and deeds. We help others to develop their gifts and abilities. Instead of breaking others down, we deliberately praise them when they are successful.
We are all different in many ways, even in human families. Some are outgoing, while others are total introverts. At All Nations, we have even more sources of difference because we come from completely different countries and cultures. We are from different denominations with different values. Some of us are from non-Christian backgrounds. We have differing spiritual gifts and callings.
In all of this, we are to celebrate these differences. It is not our job to force our own identity on those around us. Instead, we value what each one brings to the family and look for ways to help each member maximize their contribution to family living.
Being part of the family of God, we are to help others in their time of need. This may be practical help, such as providing food to a person that is sick. It may be just simply being a shoulder to cry on. Our first duty is to the other members of the family, but we are also to help outside the family. We are to do this not only as individuals, but we are to actively seek opportunities to serve outsiders as a body.
We are to be in submission to our leaders. We believe that God has raised them to those positions, and we respect and support them in their difficult work, fallible as they may be. At the same time, leaders do not raise themselves above their followers. They do their best for the family as a whole and for each member, even to the smallest baby and the weakest believer. Leaders know that God is no respecter of persons. He speaks through every member of the whole family, and listens carefully to the wisdom, guidance and reprimands brought to them by those they lead.
All members of the family show honour and respect to one another for Jesus lives in each one of us. We are to applaud others when the love of God shines from them and set them as examples for ourselves to follow.
Family Living in Difficult Times
Unfortunately there are times of trouble in every family. Sometimes the trouble comes from external sources, such as a financial crisis. In times like these, it is tempting to start bickering and pointing fingers. This is exactly what Satan wants. He wants us to be so busy fighting one another that we lose focus on the cause of the trouble, namely Satan himself.
When we are stressed, we must run to the Lord as one unit. Instead of looking first to our own limited wisdom and knowledge, we should first seek the Lord and His answers. When the Lord speaks, there will be no need to defend our own plans and ideas, and instead work together in obedience to God.
Just as in family life we cannot choose the other members. God, with His great sense of humour, put us together. We do not mind about people we like and are attracted to. However, there is certain to be someone in the family that rubs us the wrong way, or even that we have a strong disliking to. We are to treasure these people specially because it is God’s way of teaching us to love one another unconditionally. Even if it is hard, we are to serve the unlovable one with the same zeal as the one we like.
The really trying times are when another member of the family has let us down by doing something wrong. We may feel anger, confusion and even a sense of betrayal. And sometimes we ourselves were the ones that were in the wrong. It is almost unbearable to know how weak and imperfect we are. This is when we humble ourselves and confess our sins to one another. This is when we seek the reconciliation and forgiveness Christ died for us to receive.
So What is Joy in Suffering?
We are taught that we are to aim to be “happy.” This is usually taken to mean that our circumstances are good. For example, we have all the luxuries we like and some good friends. However, sometimes the things we rely on for our happiness fall away: for example, we might get sick. When this happens, we find out how weak our circumstances are. Any earthly blessing is temporary and is bound to be lost sooner or later. It is a sad reality that we will have to face at some point in time.
However, heavenly blessings are eternal. We are destined for a life of unending bliss with riches that no one can take away. We cannot see that future with our own eyes, but the Holy Spirit who lives inside us knows about it. He is already there, and as we live He shares this eternal joy in our lives every second of every day. This means that, regardless of our present circumstances, we are being filled from heaven with a joy that cannot be stopped.
We have a choice: are we going to look at our circumstances or our future? In times of difficulty we can choose to listen to our very circumstances and lose our happiness. On the other hand, we can decide to let the Holy Spirit give us something the world cannot ever understand: calm in the face of the fiercest storm.
True joy is constant in good times and bad. It cannot be manufactured by sheer force of will. True joy can only be found in God.
Not in my Family: Things to Avoid
In a family there are certain things we must not do. Grumbling, holding grudges and nursing bitterness are all against the character of Jesus and yield only unhappiness and separation from God.
We must not compare ourselves with others in terms of which gifts we have received from God or the benefits we have received from the family. We are satisfied with our lot and rejoice in what we have received.
We do not deliberately promote ourselves and our ministries at the expense of others. We do not stand on our rights – we are fellow servants of Jesus who gave up all His rights for our benefit. If others do not seem to appreciate us as much as we think they should we remember that God is watching everything that is happening. He will surely give us a far better reward than any earthly being could ever bestow on us.
Joyful Family Living Starts with One Person: Me
A joyful family is not someone else’s responsibility. It starts with me and my choices. In dying to self as individuals we make it possible for the glory of God to arise in the corporate life.
It is wonderful to see when an individual is fully devoted to God, but it is so much more glorious when we do so as a family. Think of family life as our way of bringing heaven down to earth.