Dear BPCWA worshipper, Today is the first day of the Lunar New Year. For those who celebrate this festival, it is a time of family togetherness. Last night would have been marked by the family coming together for the traditional New Year’s Eve reunion dinner for the family unit. For some who are alone and here away from their immediate families in another country, it may bring a tinge of homesickness to be away at this time. But as Christians, let us remember another family which we have – our family in Christ. Before the great reunion feast in heaven, there must be a union in our Christian family that will show God and Christ to the world. “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me” (Joh 17:23).

A Blood bought family. When a child is born into the family through the parents, the child is now their “flesh and blood”. There is an English proverb not based on biblical truth but on man’s general observations, “blood is thicker than water”. This means to say that family relationships and loyalties are stronger than friendships. As Christians however, we must realise that we have another bond that is spiritual in nature. Entry into this family is only through the new birth at salvation, when we are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God” (1 Pet 1:23). The bloodline through which we enter this spiritual family is through the shed Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ. We “who sometimes were far off” from God are “now in Christ Jesus . . . made nigh by the blood of Christ”. We are very conscious of our families, but often do not consider much about this spiritual family that we are in. God intends our spiritual family to be a very real and important familial relation to us even in this life.  “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named” (Eph 3:14-15). Notice that God does use the term “family” for those on earth too! On that note, we must also ask ourselves about how much loyalty we give to the Head of our spiritual family. It is only with a strong allegiance and fidelity to Him and His Truth that there is genuine union in the spiritual family. Even our earthly reunion dinner must remind us that our loyalty to God must be immoveable, unshakeable, transcending above even that of our earthly family.

A holy family. By this, I am not referring to what the Roman Catholics called Joseph, Mary, and Christ. I am referring to our Christian family in Christ. This includes both your home and the local church. Are you contributing to the holiness of God’s family in the church by your own godly life? Or are you the black sheep who brings shame to Christ’s Name and influences other believers to be worldly? Every family in this world is tainted with sin. Many parents will know by practical experience how much pain this causes to them and to the family. Sibling rivalry and jealousy is found between the children in everyday lives, the younger seeking to outdo the older or vice versa. But in God’s family, there should be no desire to outshine another because every member in the family has been put there with one purpose – to glorify God. What about impatience, gossip, and unforgiveness? Friction exists because of sinful emotions and passions. Family peace is jeopardised because of sin, but God’s family is supposed to be different. Sin jeopardises and breaks family unions. Let us aim to be a holy family in 2023 by our own lives!

A family bond. When we are in God’s family, it makes us brethren. Hence, “Let brotherly love continue” (Heb 13:1) so that “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (Joh 13:35). God reminds us that we are brethren. We gather for reunion dinners even if there is some unhappiness between family members because we know that we are held together by the family bond. We learn to put aside differences. We still love each other in the family. Reunion dinners remind us of that. For the believer, the Blood of Christ must remind us of the same thing, “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1Jn 1:7).  If you have been offended, forgive. If you tend to offend another, repent. Learn to live for your brother’s edification and not for yourself. At the same time, let us also seek to foster stronger bonds with each other in church this year to fulfil God’s command. If you tend to be a loner, it is time to come out of your shell and be what a family member in Christ should be.  Resolve to make the change this year in obedience to Christ’s expectation of the covenantal family He has put you in.

A family for eternity.  There is an English proverb that “home is where the heart is”. How even the unbelievers find God’s teachings to be true for them too, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt 6:21). If we treasure our family, our heart will be there too. God uses many earthly patterns to teach us about the spiritual. By and large, our familial bonds are lasting. Parents know this – that your child remains your child forever on earth, even when they are no longer young and may even have grown-up children of their own. Siblings share a bond together that even though they grow up, separated by oceans and continents, there is a bond between them that sets them apart in that relationship. But however close-knit the family may be, there is a time when that separation will be broken – and that is at death. But this is not so with the Christian covenantal family. We are forever brethren in eternity. How this thought should encourage and motivate us to spend time with our Christian brethren rather than choose unbelievers as our close friends because those will be very temporal friendships. God chose and saved you and put you as brethren into this family, “Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God” (1 Thess 1:4). Treasure it.

We are familiar with the doctrine of the universal church. But let us not lull ourselves into thinking that because the universal church is invisible, we never need to practice the spiritual familial bond and Christian love that the Bible enjoins. God has put us in a local church which He calls “my house” (Matt 21:13). By the fact that Christ tells His disciplines to “love one to another” (Joh 13:35), He intends us to practice that love and forbearance in practical terms with those immediately around us – beginning very surely in our local church, BPCWA. Let every one of us do our part to remember, maintain, and preserve the blessed and holy family union that we have until our Saviour returns for His church. This is your blessing that the Lord Jesus Christ has purchased for you with His blood – a family bound in a love that the world cannot know while we sojourn on this earth. What it is or will be will depend on every family member here.

Joh 13:1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.  

Yours in our Lord’s service,
Pastor