The Church And Family

Tonight we're looking at the church and family. Last week we looked at the church and marriage, and family results from marriage. That's the way that God ordained it. And the Bible has much to say about the family. The family is one of the authority structures that God has given society to live in and under. We've talked already about church authority, and we've also talked about the authority of the church and the authority of state. Tonight we'll be touching on the authority of the family and the domain of the family.

Speaking with Bible point number one, the church is that great company of persons whom Christ has saved and whom He dwells, to whom and through whom He reveals God, and in whom He exercises spiritual dominion. Most of y'all had that memorized by now because we've been going over that every week. But it's a great definition to be able to crystallize who the church is. It's those who are the redeemed. It's those who are united to Christ. It's those to whom God has revealed Himself, through whom He reveals Himself, and in whom He is Lord over. He exercises His dominion over us. United to Christ, the church is the temple of God's indwelling. He lives within the church.

The church and family are both instituted by God for His own glory and for the good of His people. Just as God gave the church for His own glory and for the good of His people, the same is true with the family.

The family is a natural result of marriage. Marriage is the first blank for number one. Now family does not always result from marriage, right, because God has to open the womb and He has to close the womb. But that's the general way that family comes about — through marriage.

Family is a natural result of marriage and it's the oldest human institution. We have a lot of institutions that humanity likes to rally around. We have some schools that have been in existence for over 500 years, which is pretty wild to think about — a continuously running academic institution for that long. But nothing can touch the institution of family. It goes all the way back to the garden.

The family is graciously given so that members might live together before God and work for His glory. The reason why God has given the family is much like marriage — it's for us to be able to work together, to live together, and to be able to bring God glory. The family is central. Central is the second blank. It's central to God's saving purposes in both the past and the present, and we'll be unpacking that in a little bit. The family was the conduit of the Messiah. The Messiah would come through Adam and Eve, so it was a conduit of salvation in the past. But it's also the conduit of salvation in the present, and we'll talk about that shortly.

A rightly ordered family will picture — picture is the third blank — and proclaim Christ to the world. We talked last week how marriage was meant to picture the church's relationship with Christ. Family is the same way.

How would we know to call God Father if we did not have a father? How would we know to call Christ our elder brother if we had not seen elder brothers looking after their families? God ordained the family to be instructive. And the family is to picture God's love and also to proclaim God's love to a fallen world.

The family is the training ground — training is the fourth blank. It is a training ground for worship, discipleship, and ministry.

That sounds a lot like the church, right? We've been talking about the church and its various functions, and part of its functions is worship. Part of its function is discipleship. And part of its function is ministry. But do you know, before there was a church, there was a family. And God made the family to be a training ground so that we can rightly worship God, we can rightly make disciples, and we can rightly minister to others and serve others.

The application for number one: how is the family critical to God's witness in the world? If there weren't families as we know it — in other words, when you think about modern society, it wants to demean families and actually make them less significant. It wants to redefine families, right? If the nuclear family isn't there, how would God's witness be robbed in this world?

Greatly, right? Kids wouldn't know what a father was. If they didn't know the love that exists between a man and a woman, which pictures Christ's love for His church, right, if they did not understand how the mother bears the child and that's how the Christ child came into this world, we would be impoverished without the witness of the family.

Point number two: the centrality of family in God's saving purposes can't be overstated. God ordained that salvation would come through the family of Adam and Eve, right? He could have just come down, I guess, and sent Christ into the world apart from the family. But preparation was needed. We needed that instruction. We need to see how a son obeys the father. This was in God's infinite wisdom, and for Him to be able to take on human flesh and to be able to identify with us. The centrality of family in God's saving purposes can't be overstated.

Family was given in the beginning as the conduit — conduit or channel, either word is good there — as the conduit of God's means of redemption. Listed there are Genesis 3:15 and Genesis 3:20 and Genesis 4:1. If you recall, Genesis 3:15 is known as the proto-Evangelion, the first gospel. It's where God says to Satan that you are going to be crushed by the seed of the woman. The seed of the woman means the woman's child. And then we see in verse 20 that Eve was the mother of all living. How many of you have a family tree, or have you ever done Ancestry.com or anything like that? A lot of people have and checked their family roots. It would take you all the way back to Eve, because that's where it all started. She's the mother of all living.

And then in Genesis 4:1, it says that when Adam and Eve conceived their firstborn child, she says, "I have a child from Yahweh." She knew that God had given her a child. And it can even be translated, "I have a child, even the Lord," to where she was expecting God's promises in Genesis 3:15, that her seed would be the crusher of Satan's head. She was probably expecting that to be her own child, right? It wasn't. It was through her seed, eventually through Christ. But we see that God's plan of redemption couldn't have been accomplished without the family. That's the way that God ordained it to happen and take place.

Family was God's means of redemption. Family was instrumental in God's plan to save humanity through the flood and renew His covenant with humanity. We have Genesis 8:15 and Genesis 9:1. Remember, the world was wicked. Everything it did and thought about was continually evil. And God said, "I have to wipe out mankind. The soul that sins must die." But Noah found favor with God. Noah was a righteous man in his generation. But did God just save Noah?

He saved Noah and Noah's family in the ark. And when the ark rested on dry ground, it was his family that repopulated the world. They were given the exact same mandate that Adam and Eve were given: to have dominion over the world, to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it. So we call that the Adamic and the Noahic Covenant. It's basically restated to Noah.

Family was how God structured humanity as nations — nations is the third blank — and peoples. Genesis 10:32. When you get to Genesis 10, you find what's called the table of nations and a list. All these nations that came from where? From Noah, right? Noah's children, his offspring, became the nations as they spread out over the world. And from the very beginning, God decreed that the nations would be saved. That's always been His plan.

Family was the conduit through which God's promised — promised is the fourth blank — promised blessing of salvation would come to the nations.

We have Genesis 12, Genesis 15, and Genesis 22. Those are what we call the Abrahamic Covenant. Flip over on the back and look at Genesis 15:1 through 5. Genesis 12:1 through 3, I don't need to read that to you. That's where God says, get up out of the land that you were dwelling and go to a land that I'll show you. I'll make you a mighty nation. I'll bless those who bless you. I'll curse those who curse you, and in your seed all the world will be blessed. Then we see His covenant renewed, or restated again, in Genesis 15.

"After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.' Then Abram said, 'Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?' Then Abram said, 'Look, You have given me no offspring. Indeed, one born in my house is my heir.'" He's saying basically my slave will have to be my heir because I have not received a child from You. "And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 'This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.' Then He brought him outside and said, 'Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.' And He said to him, 'So shall your descendants be.'"

The book of Romans tells us that Abraham's body was as good as dead — in other words, he was old, way past the bearing of children. Same with his wife, Sarah. But God was going to do a miracle. He was going to bring forth redemption through his seed, because to him belong the promises, and that promise would be for the salvation of the nations, for the whole world. Genesis 22:12 through 18.

If you recall, this is where Abraham had finally received his son, Isaac, and he was told by God to sacrifice Isaac. And as he's in the process of sacrificing Isaac, an angel speaks to him. "And he said, 'Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.' Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son." You see that substitution — God provided a substitution there. Verse 14: "And Abraham called the name of the place, The Lord Will Provide."

Now God had provided by providing a ram in the thicket. But that's not what Abraham says here. Abraham says "The Lord will provide" because he knew that that was typological. That was pointing toward the promised seed that would come from him — the Savior through whom the whole world would be saved. And he knew that the same God who provided a substitute for his own son would one day provide His own Son as a substitute for the world.

"So he says, 'The Lord will provide,' as it is said to this day, 'In the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.'" And that was on Moriah, which is Jerusalem, where Christ was crucified. "Then the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: 'By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son — blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.'"

God had decreed that redemption would come through His family. Fast forward to the New Testament. Galatians 3:16 says, "Now to Abraham and his Seed" — notice the New King James capitalizes "Seed" because it is referring to Christ — "were the promises made." "He does not say, 'And to seeds,' as of many, but as of one, 'And to your Seed,' who is Christ." Christ would be the Messiah. He would be the Redeemer of the nations.

And then of course, Galatians 3:26 through 29: "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus." We're all God's sons, whether you can trace your lineage back to Abraham or not. You're God's sons through Jesus Christ. "For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." You are united to the Savior through faith. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."

Remember back in vacation Bible school when you were little — "Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had father Abraham, I am one of them and so are you, so let's just praise the Lord." Right? Anyone who has trusted in Christ is Abraham's son and heir of the promises of God. That's how He chose to bring redemption into this world.

Put back over on the front for point number two, last sentence. Family is not only the conduit of God's appointed means of sending the Savior, but family — pictures is the fifth blank — pictures the blessed result of our salvation in Christ. Because God sent the Savior through Abraham's family, we who are the recipients of that salvation have a greater family now. We have God as our Father. We are brothers and sisters in Christ if we are united to Christ.

Ephesians 2:19 says, "Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." It means you're members of God's house. You're a member of God's family. If you are in Christ, it's the best news you can have.

When we talk about family it can be difficult, because not all of us have picture-perfect families that we come from. I was blessed to have a mother and father who believed in Christ and took my brother and me to church. My father died when I was a young boy in fourth grade. My mother was faithful to continue to take us to church, and we were surrounded by our church family. So I had a good family picture. But some of you don't have that same luxury. Some of you may have come from an abusive household, maybe a broken household, a dysfunctional household. Well, the good news is, if you are in Christ Jesus, you're in the household of God — God's perfect household. We have a perfect Heavenly Father who wants you to come to Him. When you pray to Him, He hears you because you are His son, and He is well pleased with you because you are in Christ.

Application for number two: how can Christians promote family formation? Formation is a blank in society. If family is the conduit through which salvation comes and it pictures what Christ has done for us, and family is given as a gracious good to humanity, how can Christians promote family formation?

We're living in a day and age where people are saying, don't get married, live together, don't have kids — they'll be a financial drain, you'll never be able to get ahead in your life. Be a DINK. A DINK is dual income, no kids. There are young people who are in their 20s and 30s and that's what they identify as. They say, we're DINKs, dual income, no kids. They brag that they've got all this money and they're not wasting it on kids. When they go to Costco they buy snacks for themselves and not for the kids. They don't have to waste their time and energy putting together toys. They can go to Vegas on the weekend or go to the Caribbean and do what they want, live the high life without the hassle and burden of kids. That's what they say.

Now God intended us to have families. And marriage ultimately is for God's glory. Now, some people God does not give children to, and that's okay. But they can still have spiritual children, can they not? That's why we're part of a church. It thrills my heart when we have little Jacob up here and he's leading us in a family discipleship moment, or any of our kids — whether it's Abigail or Hannah playing the piano. What a blessing that is. So we can have spiritual tutelage and spiritual family relations within our church, and have that purpose, that significance and meaning.

One way that we can encourage family formation in our churches is by standing against abortion. Our church does that. Ten percent of our budget goes to church missionaries, and one of our missions is a crisis pregnancy center. Our own Gabby works there and she helps young ladies make decisions to keep their baby, and then to come around their family to try to strengthen and support and nurture that family. So standing for life is one way that the church can encourage family formation.

Another way that we can do it is through adoption. Not everybody has the resources or the ability to do that, but there are so many kids who need adoption — whether they're foster families or babies all the way to teenagers.

When I lived in Austin I knew a family very well. They were a godly Christian couple. God had blessed them with a beautiful home in a great neighborhood in a great school district — it was as good as any private school you can imagine. And so they actually took some of their money and invested it in building a garage apartment with a couple of rooms. Over the years they would take in foster kids who were entering high school. That's normally when people do not want those kids, because they are already bent so to speak, already crooked. People want them when they're young and more malleable, if you will. And what they did was they loved on those kids. They took them to church. They got them tutoring. They worked on their academics so they could get academic scholarships for college. They helped them get into college and turned those kids' lives around. And the last time I kept up with them, they had gone through about 20 kids over the years — 20 lives changed. That's what churches can do, if we have a vision for that, to see that family formation is encouraged. And that's something the church must be involved in.

Point number three: God gave the state authority to provide order and protection for nations and communities. We talked about this a few weeks ago when we talked about the church and state. The state has its own locus of authority, and it's for providing good order in society, communities, and nations. God gave the church authority so that the church would be well ordered in its worship, ministry, and mission. We talked about that — what is the authority of the pastor in the church, and it's "Thus says the Lord," right? It's a moral persuasion of Scripture.

Likewise, God gave the family an authority structure that enables us to picture and proclaim Christ. Christ is the blank. Without that authority we would not be able to picture and proclaim Christ well at all.

Have you ever been to an art gallery or an art museum and seen a statue or a work of art on a pedestal? That pedestal is holding it up so everyone can see and observe and think about that piece of artwork, enjoy its beauty. But what if it didn't have that pedestal — just on the ground? You wouldn't be able to see it and you wouldn't be able to observe it. Well, God has given the family an authority structure so that it can picture and proclaim Christ. Without that functioning authority structure, its witness is robbed.

The husband is leader to the wife. He lovingly lays down his life for her just as Christ did for the church. We read about this last week when we read Ephesians 5 almost in its entirety as we talked about marriage. The husband is supposed to picture Christ's love for the church by laying down his life for his wife. The husband leads her in righteousness and faithfully loves her just as Christ cherishes the church. Again, his love and his leading and his sanctifying her — it's all a picture of what Christ does for the church. So when he's properly exercising his authority he's picturing and proclaiming the love of Christ for the church.

The husband leads her in righteousness and faithfully loves her just as Christ cherishes the church. The wife in turn yields herself to her husband in everything, as to the Lord. That's a direct quote from Ephesians 5:22. Just as the church yields itself to the Lord, the wife yields herself to the husband. As the church submits to Christ, so the wife lives under the husband's leadership, knowing that his authority is for her benefit — benefit is the second blank — and blessing. Ephesians 1:22 through 23 says that Christ was exalted far above the heavens, above all principalities and powers, for the benefit of what? For the benefit of the church. So He can lavish His love on the church. Well, the same reason the wife submits to the husband is for her own benefit, because the husband is going to be showing her love and affection — the perfect love and affection of Christ is what he's called to do.

Children in the family are to obey — obey is the third blank — and honor their parents. Isn't that right, Jacob? We find that in Ephesians 6:1 through 2 and also Colossians 3:20. Likewise the children's obedience to their parents is for their own benefit and blessing.

Parents exercise their authority over their children not in lording it over them as tyrants, but lovingly leading them in the training and admonition of the Lord. Parents are not to exasperate their children — they're to lead them lovingly, to show them the love of God.

In the family we learn to love God and others. So it's our training ground, right — how to love God and others. We learn that in the family. We learn to depend — depend is the third blank — to depend on God's grace, and to extend — extend is the fourth blank — God's grace to our family. It is not easy laying down your life for your wife. It's not easy for the wife to follow her husband. It's not easy for children to obey their parents. It's not easy not to exasperate your children when you're trying to lead them and correct them. It takes grace. So it makes us depend on God's grace, and likewise it makes us extend God's grace to our family members. Because why? Husbands, your wives aren't perfect. Wives, your husbands aren't perfect. Children, your parents aren't perfect.

Parents, your kids aren't perfect. We extend grace to one another just as God has extended grace to us. Look at Ephesians 4:31 through Ephesians 5:2.

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."

That's what happens in the family, right? In the family it's easy to let bitterness pop up, to let anger get the best of us. We're to be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. That's what we learn — to relate to God properly and to relate to our fellow man — in the family. It's a training ground. If you can't love your flesh and blood brother or sister, if you can't love your mother or father, how can you expect to love a world that is hateful towards you and against you, that has bought into the devil's rebellion? You won't be able to do it. You learn at home. Put that on the back.

Colossians 3:18 through 21, reference number three on the back: "Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged."

And then I want to point out two things because we just had Father's Day on Sunday. It mentions the husband's responsibility twice here. Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them. Don't be harsh to them.

So you may say, well, I'm not harsh. Yeah, every man is harsh. Why would Paul feel compelled to actually bring that trait up? It's something that's so common for men — pull yourself together, buck up. We can be harsh. We have to be gentle with our wives. And also it says in verse 21, "Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged." When we discipline our children, it is for their Christlike perfection. It's not because we're seeking perfection for our own merit — no, "go run 30 laps because you fouled out in your last game."

We want to see godly character put into them. We don't want to be the ones who provoke our children to anger, because our children are looking to their fathers as a picture of their Heavenly Father. If they see a father who's provoking them to wrath, that's going to be in their mind the image that they have of God. So we have an awesome responsibility — a double responsibility as fathers — to, first, make sure that we are gently leading our wives and not being harsh with them, and second, that we're not provoking our children. Flip back over on the front.

The application for number three: why do those who are nearest to us hurt us the most?

Most is the blank. And the reason why is we love them. We're in close proximity, and no one knows you as well as your spouse and your own children. And when they say something that's biting, it gets underneath your skin. Maybe someone at the grocery store casts some kind of a slur at you — you can just shuffle it off, that's a crazy person. But when it comes from your own children, or when it comes from your own spouse, your own flesh and blood, it hurts. So that's why we are to live under God's grace and always be extending God's grace to others.

Point number four: the family was given as a place to worship. Worship is the first blank for number four — to worship God. We often think, well, that's what church is for, right? We come to church to worship God.

Well, mankind worshiped God long before the church ever came to be. The garden — you can make a good argument — was supposed to be a picture of the heavenly sanctuary. Another sermon for another time. But to be able to walk and have fellowship with God, that's what worship is. And the family was given as a place to worship God. The Passover celebration along with the Feasts of the Lord were celebrated in the context of households. Remember a month or so back, maybe several months ago, I preached on Leviticus 23, the Feasts of the Lord. We went through all the Feasts of Israel and showed how they were fulfilled in Christ. Well, if you look closely at the context, each of those feasts were to be observed by families. Think about the Passover. What were they to do? They were, in their own household, to put the blood on the door on the night of the Passover. And they were to observe the meal with their families. And then after the Passover event happened, they looked back and celebrated it annually as families.

God ordained that worship take place in the home.

The fourth commandment illustrates that Sabbath keeping was to be kept by the family. Family is the second blank. Now the Sabbath is one of those laws that was fulfilled in Christ. He is our Sabbath rest. We don't worship on Saturday — every day is the Lord's day. However, it's very instructive when you look at the commandment itself to see how it was given. Flip over on the back and let's look at reference number four, Exodus 20:8 through 11:

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."

It was the man's responsibility to see that his children, his family, and his whole household properly worshiped God together, that they observed the Sabbath together.

Worship first and foremost is in the domain of the home. That's where God meant it to be.

Joshua illustrated leading his family in worship when he said that his house will serve God, in Joshua 24:15. You know that verse: "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." He was speaking for his house, because he's saying, as long as you're under my roof, we're going to church. As long as they're underneath my house, we are serving Yahweh.

But ancient Israel rebelled so often because they married foreign wives who led their house astray into idolatry — idolatry is the fourth blank. Flip over on the back. It's like Deuteronomy 7:3 through 4:

"Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly."

Now that was the plague of Israel. They never listened to God. They constantly intermarried and took wives and husbands from among the foreigners, and it perverted their worship. Even Solomon — Solomon was the wisest of men, the richest of men.

Even though he had this wisdom and wealth, and God had given him a kingdom where people from all over were paying him tribute, he kept marrying — much for political reasons, probably. But he would marry women who were worshiping foreign gods. Look what it says here. This is also on the back of your sheet. First Kings 11:1 through 4:

"But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites — from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, 'You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.' Solomon clung to these in love. And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David."

Again, the household must be the locus of our worship. And idolatry perverts that.

In the New Testament we find that the church's worship flourished in homes. There is a reference, Acts 2:46 through 47, on the front page here. Let's read that. "So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."

In the early church, as salvation fell on those who were in Jerusalem, they met at the temple to praise God, but then they went house to house breaking bread, having the Lord's Supper. Most scholars believe that breaking bread is a euphemism for having the Lord's Supper, which is a way of worshiping God. So they had home churches, because that was before the church had matured and they could afford buildings and whatnot. Worship was always part and parcel of the home — it began in the home.

Corporate church worship does not replace family worship, but supports and encourages it. We should never pit the church against the home or the home against the church, saying well, I don't worship at home, I go to church, or I don't need to go to church, I worship at home. They are mutually intertwined. The church is made up of families. And when you come here on Sunday morning and you sing corporately the praises of God, you're receiving gifts that you may not have in your own home. You may not have someone who can play an instrument or who has a beautiful voice to lead us in music. When you hear Pastor Casey preach, he's able to preach to everybody — both young people and old people. He's aiming his messages at the entire family. We call ourselves a family discipleship church because we have our entire families in here on Sundays, so the entire family can be edified, the entire family can be encouraged, the entire family can be built up, and then they go home and they continue to worship God at home — jazzed up and fired up from what they experienced on Sunday morning or on Wednesday night. That's the idea behind it.

Application for number four: how can your family worship God in your home?

Pray together — that's the first step. Because as long as you have kids who are sick or in school, or you have financial needs, whatever it may be, you're always going to have something to pray about. And to pray together as a family — "Hey, let's huddle up, we're going to pray. We're going to pray for little Johnny that he'll feel better. We're going to pray that God will meet our needs for this month because we're a little bit short. We're going to pray that we can be a witness to our neighbor." You pray together. We read God's Word together.

Now sometimes I understand this may feel like — well, I'm not qualified. I've never been to seminary, or I don't know enough to read God's Word. That's not true.

All we have to do is simply read, say, a psalm. Go line by line and discuss it as you go. Read a couple of lines out of the gospel. You don't have to go down and look up everything in lexicons and word studies. God's Word is simple — it's easy to grasp. If you get stuck on something, come ask someone at the church. We'll be glad to rally around you.

If you don't know where to even start, there's nothing wrong at all with getting a good devotional book. Keep something like Spurgeon's Morning and Evening on a shelf right there by the table. At the end of the day, maybe you're taxed out. You've worked 12 hours and your brain is fried. You think, I just don't feel like I have much to give. Well, simply read a verse in a devotion that's then expounded on. That's a great way to lead your family in God's Word, and in doing so you're teaching them that God's Word has authority over your life. God's Word has the answers that we need.

Then you pray and sing. Now I'm not a singer. Some of you are — you're blessed with great musical talent. But you know what, sing together anyway. Make a joyful noise. On my phone, one of the apps — I'll be glad to share it with you afterwards — is the Orthodox Presbyterian Church's Trinity Hymnal. The Trinity Hymnal has all their hymns alphabetically with piano accompaniment. You just click on the hymn and you see the words, and it plays the piano. So even if you don't have any musical talent whatsoever, you can sing "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me," and have the piano backing it up while you sing together at the dinner table. That's a terrific way that you can sing together, pray together, and read God's Word together.

Point number five: the family was given as a place to make disciples.

Not only was it given as a place for worship, but it was given as a place to make disciples. The family was commanded to teach the ways of God to their children. Let's look here below at Deuteronomy 6:4 through 9.

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength."

"And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." Pretty much constantly, right — doesn't leave anything out. "You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Always have in front of you wherever you go — have God's Word there. That's what He's saying. Teach it to your children. That was the command of God to Israel — to teach God's precepts to your children. The family is the beginning of discipleship.

In many churches unfortunately they say, no, that's the pastor's job — bring the kids, they'll learn in Sunday school, they'll learn in VBS, they'll learn during children's church. But I don't do Bible lessons for kids, crafts, and all that stuff. That's not what Scripture says. It is your responsibility, first and foremost, as a mother, as a father, to disciple your children. You cannot farm that responsibility out to anybody else. And it doesn't necessarily have to be formal, so to speak — sit down and let's outline this passage of Scripture. What does he say? Teach it when you are sitting, when you rise up, when you're walking.

Life-on-life discipleship is what Jesus did with His disciples for three and a half years, did He not? Wherever He went, He says, "Hey, let me show you how to pray."

He ministered to people and they helped Him in that ministry. They passed out bread. They passed out fish. They ministered as a family. That's part of discipleship.

The family was commanded to teach the ways of God to their children. The Adamic and Noahic command to fill the earth and subdue it finds its ultimate fulfillment in the Great Commission — commission is the third blank. In other words, the command to fill the earth, to be fruitful and multiply — it ultimately finds its fulfillment in the Great Commission. What did Jesus say? "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations."

"Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." That's the heart of discipleship.

There is no more fertile — fertile is the fourth blank — gospel ground than the home. You've all seen statistics that usually by the time a child is 17 or 18, the chances of them being converted go down drastically. By the time they get to college, it's almost impossible. Children's hearts aren't as polluted when they're younger. They haven't been as checkered, if you will. They haven't been as jaded by this world. They haven't been as hurt yet. The gospel is fertile with our young ones, so let's make it known to them.

Acts records many households where the gospel was preached and believed. You find that all throughout Acts — families hearing the gospel preached to them.

Timothy is an example of a godly man raised by a godly mother and a godly grandmother. We find that in 2 Timothy 1:5 and 2 Timothy 3:14 through 15. In fact, look on the back. Let's read those.

2 Timothy 1:5: "When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also." What we call a discipleship downline — Pastor Casey likes to talk about that. Things that you've learned, these truths that she learned, you commit them to faithful men who will teach others. In this case it's faithful women who are teaching others, who are then teaching their son, and their grandson. That's how God's Word is passed down.

Just a couple of weeks ago, a man that I knew when I was in college, Max Barnett, died. Max Barnett was a godly man. He made it into his 80s and he spent his entire career both pastoring and also working in student ministry. He was very well known in Oklahoma and also in Texas, working with colleges and teaching college students how to be a witness and also how to make disciples. He would use things such as the Navigators curriculum, which is very similar to what we do with Next Steps — teaching people what the gospel is, and teaching them to be taking part in a church, teaching them to be baptized, teaching them to be a witness, and continuing on.

His funeral was two weeks ago, and at his funeral something pretty remarkable happened. They had a young man who gave testimony of how he came to know Christ, and he was the eighth in the cycle. And then after he finished, a man who was a little bit older than him got up and gave a very similar testimony of how he was discipled, and he had discipled that younger man. That eight people had gone through, and the eighth one had been discipled by Max Barnett.

So Max had discipled one person from one generation to the next, to the next, to the next — what a testimony that is. What a testimony it is when Lois and Eunice teach it to Timothy. That's what we want to see — grandparents teaching their children, children teaching their grandchildren, grandchildren teaching the great-grandchildren. That is how we multiply, that's how we make disciples, and that's what the family was intended to be — to be a channel of this blessing. Put back over on the front.

Psalm 145:4 says, "One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts." So the family does that. It was not uncommon in biblical times to have multi-generational families. And we're actually seeing that today sometimes, because of financial issues or health issues — you may have grandparents living in your own home. Think about Peter. Remember Peter's mother-in-law was sick and was miraculously healed, and she went about serving. She was living with Peter's household. That's okay — to have these multi-generational households for gospel proclamation.

Corporate church discipleship does not replace family discipleship, but supports and encourages it.

Again, the church is not trying to compete with the family. That's where discipleship begins — in the family. But the church is there to encourage families, to equip families, so they can disciple their kids. So that's what we do in church: we're raising up godly men, godly women, godly children who will teach others as well.

Application for number five: how can your family make disciples in your home? Remember, a disciple is not just a convert.

What does the Great Commission say? "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them whatsoever I commanded you." It's teaching them the commands of Christ. That's how we make disciples. Don't shy from it, because someone is discipling your kids.

It's either you — or it's an influencer on TikTok.

It's the music that they're listening to, which is trash, corrupting their minds and corrupting their morals. You have to be the one that disciples them.

Point number six: the family was given as a place to minister. Minister is the blank for number six. Ministry, as we talked about a few weeks ago when we looked at the ministry of the church, simply means to serve. The family is given not only to be a place of worship, not only to be a place of discipleship, but to be a place where we serve one another and serve others. Fathers and mothers lead their families by demonstrating sacrificial service to their family and to others. Brothers and fathers should lead the way in demonstrating sacrificial service to their family, and don't they do that?

Children, how many times have you woken up and your mom's already up and cooked breakfast for you? Your dad's already gone off to work, maybe. You go to your room and there's a pile of freshly laundered clothes on your bed. You complain about putting them away — "I've got to put them away." But your mom and dad are the ones who washed them and folded them and put them right there for you. They are serving you, right there modeling Christlike service.

Lydia is a great example of ministry, as her household ministered to Paul and the disciples by providing a place for them to live. Flip over on the back. Remember Paul got the Macedonian call in the middle of the night — a vision: "Come on over here, come to Asia, we need you." And so he went.

And look what it says here in Acts 16:14 through 15: "Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us" — they were preaching down by the river — "who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart" — sovereignty right there — "to heed the things spoken by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, 'If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.' So she persuaded us." She's saying, let our house serve you, let our house be a beachhead here for your ministry. You can bring people in, you can show hospitality here, we will provide that so your ministry can be magnified, that people may be able to come to know Christ and the church can be multiplied.

Another great example of ministry is the Philippian jailer. Remember when Paul and Silas were in prison and God set them free, and the jailer thought for sure that they had all escaped? "What must I do to be saved?" is what the jailer says, and they give him the gospel. And they had been beaten horribly. What does the jailer do? He takes them into his home. His family members wash their wounds. They feed them, provide them nourishment. They provide practical ministry to them. That's in the context of a newly converted jailer and his newly converted family — and the first thing they want to do is serve Paul and Silas.

Ministry is learned by example. You can buy books about ministry, and that might help you. But it's best learned by example.

Fathers and mothers, that is a grave, grave responsibility that's placed on you — to model service, to model ministry. If they see mom and dad saying, "I guess I got to go up there and mow the grass at church today. I don't want to do it. I shouldn't have made that commitment, because it's just a burden." What are you telling your kids? What are you modeling for your kids? Or, "I really don't want to cook this casserole for this lady. I don't really like her anyway. I just signed up out of guilt." What are you communicating to your children?

But on the flip side, say, "Hey, let's together bring this casserole to Miss Sarah. You know, she's always writing us cards, she's always encouraging us and loving us. Let's return that favor to her, and maybe we can pray with her and maybe we can sing with her, maybe we can lift her spirits up." You see the difference there. Parents set the tone. Ministry is more taught by example than anything else.

No one has the trust and influence — influence is the fourth blank — over your children as you do. No one has your children's trust, and no one has the influence over your children, as much as you do. So when they see a dad who's fired up for the Lord and wants to go serve others, it changes things.

One story I like to tell: when I was a boy I used to play soccer. One Saturday, I guess I was probably in third grade or so, after my morning soccer game, Dad said he had an errand to run and we went over to a poor part of town — a part of town I wasn't accustomed to going to. He talked with a really strange-looking guy outside of a house. And then another car pulled up and a man wearing a nice suit came there, and my dad talked to him and handed him an envelope, and I didn't know what that was about.

I met that guy about a year later at my dad's funeral, and the guy says, "Your dad used to pay my rent." So he was modeling service, modeling love to his kids. And my dad didn't know, of course, he was going to die, but that's part of his legacy. What a beautiful thing that is to be able to teach children.

1 John 3:16: "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." We're to model Christ's sacrifice and His service for us.

The application for number six: how can your family minister — minister is a blank — together to others? If you haven't thought about that formally, do that.

Think with your family: who can we minister to? Do we have anyone on our street — some neighbors who maybe are elderly and can't take care of their yard so well — and we can go over there and help them in their yard? We can serve them and maybe have a chance for a gospel conversation, to be able to shine Christ and tell them about the hope of the gospel. Maybe it's someone in your extended family that you haven't seen for a while and could use a visit. We have people in our congregation who are sick, who can't get out like they used to. Just going by and spending a few minutes with John Bernadove — it makes all the difference in the world, because he knows, "Hey, Jimmy's come to see me again. Him and Joanne are here to see me. They love me. They're praying for me." That does his heart good. So ask yourselves, who can you minister to, and how can we minister together as a family? This should be done as families. It's natural. One great way to do that is on a Sunday morning.

There's a visitor. You're already going to lunch anyway. Invite them to come to lunch with your family. It's all about hospitality — making them feel welcome, making them feel loved and valued.

Point number seven: we must always remember that the family is but part of a larger eternal — eternal is a blank — eternal family known as the church. The church is the second blank. All who are in Christ are chosen by God to be members of His household — household is the third blank.

We have been adopted — adopted is the fourth blank — in Christ, and are therefore brothers and sisters in Him.

So eternal is the first blank, church is the second blank, the third blank is household, and the fourth blank is adopted.

We are in families, yes, but we are part of an eternal family because some of us aren't in families. As I mentioned last week, we have widows. We have divorcees. We have people whose family is estranged from them — they're alive, but they might as well not be living, because they don't talk or have conversation with them. The nice thing is that you're part of an even greater family, and that's the family of God. You are in Christ. We are your brothers. We are your sisters. We love you. We support you. That's what the church is — it's part of God's household. Romans 8:14 says, "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." Christ is in you. You're the son of God.

Application: can church family — families is a blank — be as close or closer than natural family?

Yes. Many of us can testify that we have such wonderful relationships with one another that rival or surpass that of our natural family.

Charles Spurgeon once said that an eight-year-old boy who is in Christ has more in common with an eighty-year-old who is in Christ than he has in common with an eight-year-old who isn't in Christ. Because we have a bond, and that bond is our union with Christ.