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CHRISTADELPHIAN BIBLE POSTAL COURSE No. 41 |
FAMILY LIFE IN JESUS € SERVICE
Reading : 1 Peter 3
This lesson is for those followers of Jesus who are either still living in a family with parents or have married and now have their own family.
The object of this lesson is to look carefully at the family unit and identify those things that are good about it. We will also think about some of the disadvantages of living in a group. It is important to be aware that although society is very different from one part of the world to another, all men and women came from one common beginning. They all have the same creator and it was God who formed the first family.
In earlier lessons we have looked at that first family of Adam and Eve with their two sons Cain and Abel and probably come to the conclusion that Adam was not a very good father. He did not teach his boys the difference between right and wrong. He did not see the evil in the jealousy of Cain for his brother Abel and it was God not Adam who discovered the murder and punished Cain. If you think about Adam, you will remember that he had not been very good at resisting evil himself. This raises our first important point, the responsibility and importance of the Father and the Mother in guiding the family. In the early days of the Bible that responsibility belonged to the man as patriarch or leader.
The best example is Abraham and the devotion of his family and all of his servants can be seen from the book of Genesis and from Peter € s first letter chapter 3 verses 1 to 6. The Apostle € s wise instruction was not only to wives but also to husbands and he says in verse 7 that the husband and wife are heirs together of the grace of life.
One of the most important things in that early human family was love and we see references to it in these early Biblical families. Genesis chapter 22 verse 2 € thine only son whom thou lovest € and also Genesis chapter 24
verse 67, the love of Isaac for his bride Rebekah. Thus the family is a divinely designed unit and if the parents bring up their children to know
God and respect his word in the Bible they will have provided a good foundation for the future lives of their children. Love between family members is essential if the family is to be a happy one. The wisdom and authority of the parents is also important. Paul wrote to Timothy about the break-up of families that would occur in the future. Look at his second letter chapter 3 verse 2.
In the first letter to Timothy Paul gives good instruction to both men and women disciples of Jesus. There are details of daily life and of that special element of worship that is not just what is said in prayer by an individual but rather the way of life that is in itself the most honest and sincere form of worship.
The third chapter includes a list of those characteristics that Timothy must look for in selecting men who would be the elders and administrators of the new churches. For the purpose of this lesson look now at verses 4 and 5.
This Bible advice on discipline in the family may have been written for Timothy but it is also a clear guide on family life for disciples of all ages. This code of conduct has been almost completely rejected by modern society in many countries. The decline in public order and in the strength of the family group has been alarming in recent years.
Many Governments have realised the errors in the laws they have invented permitting easy divorce, promoting and encouraging the idea of single parent families. The problem now is that it is difficult and perhaps impossible to reverse this dangerous trend. The use of drugs by young people and the alarming growth of AIDS are just examples of disasters that start from a lack of personal discipline. That personal discipline begins in the family and is demonstrated to young children by their parents.
It is important now to explain carefully the divine principle of discipline in the family for this can so easily be misused. Turn now to
Hebrews chapter 12 and look at verses 1 to 11. Fathers faced with disobedient and unruly children can be either too severe or not severe enough. Wisdom and a sense of justice have to be used and the source of guidance is in the laws of Jesus for his disciples.
Some western countries now have laws which forbid parents to chastise their children. In this chapter the relationship between God and his son Jesus Christ is given as an example. God was prepared that his only son should suffer for the sins of mankind. Jesus as a loving and dutiful son was prepared to accept that suffering. We may never achieve in our families that level of control and devoted obedience but the words of Paul have to be thought about carefully. Look at verse 7 first and compare that with verses 9 and 10. The teaching of the Bible is that parents should discipline their children, not to work out their own anger and frustration but in love for the ultimate good of the child. We have looked at the subject of suffering in lesson 47 but for now the advice in verse 11 says clearly that the child will benefit from being part of a family where there are rules. Furthermore, those rules should be the rules given in the Bible.
This has perhaps been a painful section of the lesson but it is important. We are now able to look at family life to see where the guidance and strength can come from. Reading the Bible has to be the starting point for, if we do not know God € s instructions and those of Jesus and his apostles, how can we put them into practice? There is safety also in staying close to God € s word, and reading the Bible together can be both an education and a source of great pleasure. It is important that children are encouraged to join in and helped when they come to difficult words. Parents can make this time spent reading the Bible together very effective if the lessons that they uncover are explained and, more importantly, discussed so that all are given an opportunity to say what they think.
The letters of Paul were not written for one small group of believers only but intended for other churches also; look at Colossians chapter 4 verse 16. The great task of bringing the Jewish Old Testament and the Gospels together with the writings of the apostles and the book of Revelation was done so that disciples through the ages could also benefit from this € Word of God € . The apostle Peter, writing at a time when disciples of Jesus had just the Old Testament as their guide, made this powerful recommendation. You can find it in chapter 1 of the first letter verses 19 to 21. This is the inspired Word of God he says, and it is reliable because God intended us to have it. It may have been written by mortal men but they wrote what God intended them to write. Paul makes the same important statement in his second letter to Timothy chapter 3 verses 14 to 17. He even tells us the reasons for using this word of God. They are € Correction and instruction € and the beneficial results in verse 17. Note that Timothy had been reading and learning his Bible from childhood.
Despite all this good guidance, human parents do get things wrong, they make mistakes which are so serious that they cannot be forgotten. They do allow anger and frustration to show and be used against their children. This is where the wise words of Paul to the Ephesians guide us; look at verses 1 to 4. Bitter words and deeds have split so many families. The law of love for our neighbour must start in the home with love among families and it must continue through good times and bad times, through success and terrible failure.
If the disciples find it hard to use love and forgiveness in their homes and among their own families, how will they work happily together in the larger family of the ecclesia and the brotherhood of Christadelphians world-wide? The same rules of self-discipline, the same spirit of Jesus that is in the ecclesia needs to start in the home in the experience and in the hearts of the individual brothers and sisters.