Last week we talked about how fathers can lead their families. One of the things that a father must do is to guard his family from danger When you think of guarding your family, you think of guarding from an external danger. However the biggest danger to your family is not external, it’s internal. If the unity within a family is threatened, if the peace within a family becomes a conflict, the family can deteriorate from inside. The same is true of the church family, which is what I’m going to talk about today.
My message topic is “Guarding Your Church Family.” Notice that my title is guarding your church family. The way you know that you are really part of the church family here at Life Church is when you begin referring to it as my church family. Just as you don’t want anything to disrupt your physical family, so you don’t want anything to do damage to your spiritual church family. A united church family is a strong family. A safe church family is one that has the unity of the Spirit.
NIV Ephesians 4:3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. This verse is addressed to every member of the church family, not just the leadership. The unity of the Spirit is something that can be lost, so every person in the church family needs to be part of guarding that unity.
I’m reminded of the story of a man named Roy Regal. Roy had a dream of playing in the Rose Bowl and his team made it there one year. In the middle of the game, Roy got his hands on the football and was determined to be the hero of the game. So without looking at the rest of his teammates, Roy ran and ran and ran, almost 100 yards before he was tackled just at the goal line. Problem was that Roy ran the wrong direction and was tackled by his teammate. That’s what happens when someone forgets about the rest of the team, when someone just thinks about themselves and not the unity and purpose of the team.
The same is true in God’s team we call the church. Every person in the church family needs to be part of working for the unity of the church, making it a better place tomorrow than it is today.
To hear more about this topic, listen to my June 25, 2006 message entitled Guarding Your Church Family