The Importance Of Family

Greetings. Sorry for the late post but I'm still in Vacation Mode. We had a wonderful trip to D.C. as we attended "Rolling Thunder". Back home now, and almost a week after Sunday's service, I am making this post. Our scripture reading was a short one, Genesis 1:28. From one verse, we can see, that from the beginning God wanted us to be a family. Throughout scripture we see reference to family, both in the physical sense, and in the Theological sense. Man and woman would marry, become one flesh (Gen. 2:24), have children, and become a family. This is the building block for human society. What should a family be like? We are to look after one another. We see our first example of this in Genesis 4:9 when God asks Cain "Where is your brother Abel?". Cain's response, "I don't know, Am I my brother's keeper?". The implication here is YES. We are to look after one another. Our Western civilization has strayed from "family" and gravitated toward "individualism". Unlike the Middle East and even more so, the Far East. The Bible has a communal sense of people and family. When God saved Noah from the flood it wasn't an individual salvation, it was his family that was spared (Gen. 6:18). When God called Abraham out of Haran, He called him and his family (Gen. 12:4-5). God's covenant with Abraham (circumcision) was to be applied to every male in the house (Gen. 17:12-13). One of the ten commandments preserve the authority of parents (Exd. 20:12), and another protects the sanctity of marriage (Exd. 20:14). The sense of family was not limited to the old testament. Jesus spoke of divorce and the sanctity of marriage in Matthew 19:1-12. Paul explains what a Christian family should be like in (Eph. 6:1-4 & Col. 3:20-21). We are to obey our parents, honor them, and our parents are not to exasperate their children. In the theological sense there is a misconception in Matthew 12:46-50. Many will tell you that Jesus thought that the biological family was not important. Wrong... Jesus was making a clear theological point. The Kingdom of Heaven, is the most important family connection, the spiritual connection not the physical. More scriptures concerning this are (Jn. 1:12-13, Rom. 8:15, & Gal. 3:26-29). Our spiritual family, not the physical. One created by God through Jesus Christ. A family from every nation, tribe, people, and language (Rev. 7:9). The defining characteristic of this wonderful family, "Our Love for one another." (Jn. 13:34-35). If you have Jesus Christ in your heart you have the best family God has to offer. Next week we will be taking about our expectations. Till then, God Bless and have a wonderful week.