By Eric
Wallace
Originally posted on www.unitingchurchandhome.org
Statement on offsite articles
God's method of discipleship is a beautiful process to observe in action. It is, simply put: applying God's powerful and living truths in close relationships. We must not fail to pass on the knowledge of God and a vision for His redemptive plan.
Consider God's instructions to His people, the very first time He spoke to us on these matters....
Now this is the commandment, which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them...so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, and that your days may be prolonged...And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might...And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart...and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you rise up. (Deuteronomy 6:6-9)
God's plan is accomplished over generations through heart-level relationships that are nurtured in everyday life. This is real discipleship and it needs to be rediscovered in the church today. While Deuteronomy 6 is a widely recognized passage, it is often under-used. It is a much richer passage than people give it credit for. Actually, about three-fourths of the passage is commonly overlooked. People normally focus on verses 7-9, which describe that parents are to teach their children as they rise up, lie down, and walk by the way. Forgotten are the other principles that when added to verses 7-9 make a complete model for discipleship.
From Deuteronomy 6 we learn that all parents "home educate". While some parents home school, all parents, even all members of God's household "home educate"! By itself this maxim is a dramatic tool for building unity and leaders within God's household.
Many household leaders do not see themselves as educators of their children because the word "education" has been redefined by our culture to describe a purely academic, programmed process. This, coupled with the fact that for almost a century parents have been sending their children off to school every day has had a deleterious effect upon parents' understanding of themselves as home-educators or home-disciplers. As a result, fundamental needs like character, growth, morality, biblical virtue, and healthy relationship are not seen as part of the education process. Education is no longer a process of learning how to learn, or learning how to be a spiritually mature person; instead, it has been reduced to the refinement of marketable skills, and the teaching of a worldview that is diametrically opposed to the Judeo-Christian view.
Christian home "education" of any sort is a process that has as its goal the passing on of a God-honoring heritage from one generation to the next. Successful training of generations is training our children to train their children. This provides an understandable motive for our children to know why we are doing what we do. Whether we intend to or not, how we train our children does indeed set the stage for how they will train their children.
Let us examine the first part of God's plan to raise up household leaders. You and I have the chance to reach generations after us and to steer the course of our household for years to come.
From the beginning, God's plan has been to bring redemption to His people and creation at large. Man was created to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The first picture of mankind that God gives us in His Word is one of being without sin and thus in harmony with God. Adam and his wife, Eve, were to serve God as described in Genesis 1:28b-30: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; rule over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Of course we know the tragedy that followed in Adam and Eve's sin. Immediately, God injected hope...and the first outlines of His redemptive plan.
Genesis 3:15 says, "And I will put enmity between [the serpent] and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel." This is a promise that the evil deeds of the serpent will not ultimately triumph over God's plan. The triumph of God will come through the bearing of children (generations). One man (Jesus Christ) would come from the seed of the woman and destroy the works of the serpent--and we, His brothers and sisters, were to continue God's work after Him.
The spiritual training of children is an irreplaceable element in God's redemptive plan. Children are designed to carry on the redemptive legacy of their parents--passing on the knowledge and works of God to others. Thus, the household, God's unit for bringing redemption to man, was established first in Adam's household.
Today more than ever, households need the help of church relationships to pass God's redemptive plan on to their children. Perhaps there has never been an opportunity for the church to impact future generations as there is today.
By examining the work God did in, and through, the households He called, we can understand both the importance of God's plan for households and the works we can accomplish over generations.
In God's mercy, He selected Noah's household to be the unit through which He would sustain the human race and continue His redemptive work. Building the ark and filling it with two of every living creature was a household ministry. Noah's children played a central role in the process of redemption.
Through Noah and his household, God reminds us that He is holy and just and that our sin must be punished. The faithfulness and salvation exhibited through Noah's household pointed to the coming of a Savior who would take our sin and its punishment upon Himself so that we could be free to serve God.
In Genesis 17:4 we read that Abraham was to be a father of many nations even though his wife was past childbearing years.
Years later, as if the wait for a son were not enough of a test, in a confounding twist, God called Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. God, however, provided a ram to take Isaac's place.
Through Abraham and Isaac, we are treated to a picture of our own redemption, which would be achieved through the sacrifice of God's only Son, Jesus Christ.
We also learn quite a bit about God's character and how we are used in His plan. We learn that God keeps His promises, no matter how impossible the circumstances may seem. We learn that God will accomplish His work in His time. But we must wait on God and not vainly try to manipulate Him when His timetable does not match our own. This points to the greatest lesson that we learn from Abraham and that is the centrality of faith in our relationship with God.
Through Joseph's household, God saved His own people and the unbelieving Egyptians from famine. We see God's ability to work out His purposes despite man's sin. We see how important godly character is and how God can use His people to bring salvation and healing not just to His people, but to all peoples of the world. We further see a beautiful picture of reconciliation and restoration that takes place when we humbly admit our faults to one another.
Then there is Moses. Here's a man who, if it were not for his parent's faith, would have died before his first birthday. Imagine what the beleaguered Israelites would have thought knowing their future leader was hidden for three months and then sent floating down the Nile River.
We know, however, that God worked it out that Moses' mother would have the opportunity to raise him after all. When we give everything to God, He always rewards us.
God freed His people from slavery and fashioned them into a nation ruled by God's law. The pilgrimage from Egypt to the Promised Land was symbolic of our spiritual journey from slavery to sin to freedom in Christ.
Through Moses, we see the importance of leadership in God's plan. Moses was not a natural-born leader. God taught Moses the leadership skills he would need while he sojourned in Midian. He was not a man of eloquent speech, but God gave him the words to speak to Pharaoh. Moses did not know where to take God's people, but God provided a pillar of fire by night and cloud by day that would lead the nation.
As leaders of households we are called to lead. We do not have to be great orators or planners, we have to be humble and allow God to direct us in our leading of others to maturity. God uses our life experiences as tools to lead his little ones through the wilderness of everyday life to arrive at the promised land of maturity.
Joshua was a courageous fellow. Being the son of a guy named Nun, he had to be. Given the faithfulness of Joshua at such an early age, we can infer that his parents raised him to fear and serve God. His faith extended into his own household leadership, as he is known for his statement, "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord." We should be as bold and specific as Joshua was in the leading of our own households.
To the single women, single moms, or even widows reading this book, let the story of Ruth be an encouragement. Once again, it appears that God's team was down 49-0 and there were only five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Elimilech and his wife Naomi fled to Moab with their two sons to escape famine. Following the death of Elimilech and their two sons, Naomi elected to return to Bethlehem. Her daughter-in-law, Ruth, forsook her gods and chose to come with her. In His concern for generations, God provided a husband for Ruth named Boaz. Their marriage produced a son named Obed, the father of Jesse. Jesse was the father of David and generations later, the father of Jesus, the Messiah.
Not only does God care about the single mother, He does have a place in His plan for her and her household. As in the case of Ruth, He can provide restoration and healing. He can even provide a husband who fears God and with whom future generations may be raised.
We can learn quite a bit from the life of David. King of Israel, David was a man after God's own heart. Through his household, a temple where God could be worshipped was built. But his heart for God is contrasted by his sin of adultery and murder.
We should be encouraged by the example of David passing the vision of building God's temple on to his son Solomon. It is essential that we communicate the need to carry on God's work to our children. In addition, we would do well today to have a heart that seeks after God as David did. Like David, however, we are frail and sinful. Many today feel inadequate to lead because of past sin. David's example proves that there is always room for the repentant at God's table.
The last words of the Old Testament (Malachi 4:6) are the same words that open the New Testament (Luke 1:17). "And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers..." After 400 years of silence, the promise was repeated to Zecharias that he and his barren wife, Elizabeth, would bear a son, whom they were to name John. The role of John the Baptist was to prepare the way for the Lord. Significant is how he was to prepare the way for the Lord. John was a forerunner of Christ who was to turn the hearts of fathers back to their children so that people would be ready for Christ.
Heart-level obedience to God's commands are vital signs of repentance. The people of Israel at the time of John the Baptist were in need of repentance. God's commands were necessarily tied to household life. "And these words which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons" (Deuteronomy 6:6-7). To return to household life, fathers had to have their hearts won back to their children.
Brothers and sisters, are the times in which we live that different from the times of John the Baptist? I would say not. What we are seeing God do today is what He promised He would do back in Malachi 4:6. Fathers are waking up; they're repenting of their failures in leading their households.
At the beginning of Acts, which describes the birth of the church, we see that the theme of generations is central. Peter's sermon at Pentecost begins and ends with a discussion about generations. Peter begins his sermon by quoting the prophet Joel (2:28-32): "And it shall be in the last days, God says, 'That I will pour forth my Spirit upon all mankind; and your sons and daughters shall prophesy. And your young men shall see visions; and your old men shall dream dreams." The work of redemption is not simply an adult matter; it involves all members of the household.
Peter reiterates the original promise given to Abraham: " `For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God shall call to Himself.' And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them saying, `Be saved from this perverse generation!' " Repentance was called for in the context of an appeal to future generations.
As a result, we see that three thousand souls were added to the kingdom that day. These were not just individuals but households: men, women, children, servants, and strangers. This event begins a recurrent theme of whole households coming to faith in Christ.
The life that was born from these repentant households provides a relational model of discipleship and ministry. "And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, the breaking of bread and to prayer.... And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart" (Acts 2:42, 46). The work of God, beginning with repentance, was done in the hearts of households and pulled them together in church life.
We are in a unique position today to see whole household units come back together through repentance. If we focus more on reaching entire household units as opposed to individuals, we might be able to experience the incredible change that was so prominent in the early church.
I would like to draw your attention to two instances which show generations to be a dynamic tool for the defense of the gospel. After healing the lame man outside the temple gate in Acts 3, Peter tells the unbelieving Jews that the healing was the work of God: "The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified His servant Jesus....And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom God raised from the dead...." By connecting Jesus to Abraham, a man whom the Jews respected, Peter sought to help them see that Jesus was indeed God's Son.
Second, In his defense before the Sanhedrin, Stephen drew upon the promise to Abraham (Acts 7:5) and referenced "father" or "fathers" eighteen times in fifty-two verses to emphasize the importance of generations as the center of God's redemptive plan.
How often today do we think this way? How useful is our lineage as a tool for the gospel? For many, the lineage starts with you. You must pass on the relationship to your children and their children's children so that they may be able to say that they worship and serve the God of their fathers! What an impact this would have upon those even today to hear from a person that theirs is the faith of their father.
As the gospel travels through the Jews and to the Gentiles we see God using generations through households in His kingdom's service.
Of the New Testament heroes, Paul's disciple Timothy is a standout. When Paul wrote to Timothy, he made a special point of remembering his "...sincere faith, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice...." While Paul makes no mention of Timothy's father, we see the impact of a matriarch's faith of two preceding generations on Timothy. We see that the faith of a mother and grandmother plays a crucial role in the life and health of children. Further, we see how spiritual maturity is built by God, beginning with parents, grandparents, and then, as the child matures, other believers. It would appear that Lois and Eunice were the spiritual leaders of their households.
From this review, one can see how pervasive the theme of generations is in redemptive history. God has such a heart for generations. The evidence is overwhelming, and it will change how you think about your household as well as ministry.
A look at generations as we have just done uncovers some key interrelated truths that are vital to deepening our understanding of why generations are at the center of God's plan. In fact the following truths represent key elements that must be present. They are major aspects of the equipping process of future generations.
As we look back on this generational overview, more general truths emerge about God's leadership.
The first truth is that God loves children and sees them as of strategic importance to His plan. Consider that Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah, Manoah (Samson's mother), and Elizabeth (John the Baptist's mother) were all barren women. God gave each of them children, emphasizing the importance of children in God's plan.
Further, one of the signs of God's blessing upon an obedient Israel was that "there shall be no male or female barren among you or among your cattle" (Deuteronomy 7:14). The law stipulated the death penalty upon anyone who kidnapped a child or adult. Jesus showed a love for children by taking the time to be with the children that people brought to Him, despite the protests of His disciples (Mark 10:14).
We find ourselves living in a society that does not value children. Abortion figures alone prove that point. But ironically in the church community, as pro-life as it may be, the importance of children is also diminished.
Do we see our children as leaders of future generations? As church and household leaders we need to understand the gravity of our responsibility. How well are our children and young people prepared to live their faith? Are they knowledgeable about basic doctrine and theology? Do they have well-developed convictions and vision for their marriages and households? Do they know what God specifically wants them to accomplish?
If we do not model a lifestyle of growth and purpose, who will?
The second general truth is that the role of the household leader is crucial. It is God's design that older, experienced fathers be the leaders of every generation. God works through those who are the keepers and purveyors of His covenant through generations. In Genesis 26:3-4 God renewed the promise with Isaac. He said, "I will establish the oath that I swore to your father..." We have no less need today for household and church leaders who, together, proactively lead with insight into the things that matter to God.
Men need to grow in responsibilities of spiritual leadership. A contrast between Abraham and Lot helps us to see how vital the father's leadership is.
Abraham was by no means perfect. But we see that his son, Isaac, went on to faithfully serve God. Lot lived with Abraham and stayed with him until the two had to split. We know what happened to Lot. Lot selfishly chose wealth and convenience but lost the hearts of his wife and daughters to carnality.
One of many lessons that can be learned from the contrast between Lot and Abraham is the importance of the father's leadership in fulfilling redemptive goals over generations. This is especially obvious in light of Abraham's faithfulness in the test of sacrificing Isaac. In contrast to Lot's daughters, Isaac was faithful to God's plan. In Isaac we see a trust in his father. Imagine being in Isaac's place on that altar and seeing your father raise the knife. Clearly the whole narrative in Genesis 22 indicates a submission and willingness on the part of Isaac to do what God had commanded. But notice how Abraham dealt with his son. He dealt with him on the basis of God's promises. Vision and purpose are central to Abraham's triumph in clearly the most demanding trial he ever experienced. Abraham knew God's promise--that he would make him a great nation through Isaac--and therefore knew that God would not take Isaac's life.
We never read of Lot seeking God's direction. Lot alone decided to pitch his tent toward Sodom. While Lot continued to get drawn into Sodom's wickedness, Abraham continued to experience great blessing, such as the birth of Isaac. Abraham knew God's promises and was walking in them.
The contrast between the failure of Lot and the success of Abraham presents a challenge for fathers today to be leaders who first of all understand the importance of the household unit in God's redemptive plan. Are fathers today motivated by a clear and convicting vision? How will future generations take greater steps for God's work if they are not handed a vision and promise?
This understanding should drive fathers to do as Abraham is described in Genesis 18:19: "For I have chosen him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice: in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him." For a father to have this kind of relationship with his children they must "obey [God], keep His charge, His commandments, statutes and laws." This means basing their actions on the promises of God. Clearly, Lot showed no initiative to any of the above, and he and his household suffered for it.
One of the themes that is present in all of the households we have reviewed is that God uses imperfect people to carry out His plan. God forgives and heals sin in our relationships. Many who would be leaders never become such because they are weighed down by past or present sin.
An aspect of leadership involves redeeming areas of generational sin. When one holds the microscope to the lives of the fathers in the Bible, magnification need not be very strong to see that they were sinful people with sinful households. Murder, drunkenness, lying, kidnapping, incest. It is all there. General Hospital in the Old Testament.
Often, we see the sin of the parents--especially fathers--being repeated down through generations. For example, Abraham lied to Pharaoh about Sarah being his sister. Isaac, like his father, fell into the same temptation to lie to a foreign ruler, in this case Abimilech, about his relationship with his wife. Jacob, Isaac's son, was lied to by ten of his sons about Joseph's whereabouts. Some households have multi-generational struggles with drunkenness, drugs, illicit sex, and other sins.
Sin has multi-generational consequences that require the attention of the household unit to eradicate. In this sense, redemption is not just a personal process; it is a corporate process. Parents must humbly confess their own sins before God and their children so that their children might succeed where they failed.
God is not surprised by our failures. He gives mercy to those who repent and judgment to those who do not. It is therefore no surprise that His blessing and mercy extend to generations. "And His mercy is upon generation after generation toward those who fear Him" (Luke 1:50, Deuteronomy 7:9). God also judges generations. "For forty years I loathed that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways" (Psalms 95:10; Numbers 32:13).
God's focus on generations extends beyond the raising of faithful children (Christian household) to a group of people who are regarded as sharing some sort of common cultural attribute. Examples include "The Baby Boom Generation" and "Generation X."
We see God dealing with generations today. For example, the children of the sixties and seventies who rebelled against authority are now reaping what they have sown in that they are seeing their own authority over their children being stripped away.
Just as we saw in Joshua, God uses younger generations to bring mercy on older generations. One of the ways that God is bringing mercy upon the older generation today is through the younger households who home school. Through the home schooling structure, these households rediscover many forgotten biblical principles about relationships. God uses these households as instruments of His mercy on older generations when they share what they learn. By equipping our own children with a vision for producing faithful children, we are also equipping them to function as our Lord's ambassadors to unbelieving generations.
In summary, for generations to thrive, fathers must lead their households by living out and equipping them with God's redemptive vision. As part of this, fathers must be models of humility by confessing personal sin and helping the household as a unit to overcome multigenerational sin.
The work of redemption involves more than presenting a cerebral outline of what one must do to be saved. The Fall extended way beyond man's mind. It has affected everything that was created. Sickness, death, and disorder were introduced. "Nature" is fallen. In Romans 8:21-22 Paul tells us that even the creation groans while awaiting its freedom that it was subject to through man's fall. Man's whole nature--his identity, his mind, his heart--is fallen. All of God's institutions--household, church, and government--are fallen. Work is fallen, in that it is laborious and in need of redemptive purpose. The immensity and pervasiveness of the Fall knows no bounds. The solutions of redemption go far beyond our personal salvation thrusting into all of life--medicine, education, science, politics, law and finance, the arts and literature.
Our goal should be to restore God's glory to every aspect of creation and the fallen world. Our sons and daughters must imbibe themselves in God's principles as we prepare them to live and work in a fallen world in order that they might be a willing instrument of God as He redeems it. The work of redemption is a mammoth challenge that requires a multi-generational vision.
It will take generations to complete redemptive tasks. What one father starts may take three or more generations to complete. In this sense Vladimir Lenin and Karl Marx, the founders of Communism, serve as albeit unfortunately, excellent role models. Their goal was to achieve the state of higher Communism, which essentially means worldwide Communism. Yet they knew that they would never achieve this in their generation. They were sure to trample all vestiges of freedom, which would prohibit the movement. Not surprisingly, one of the key components of their plan was to use the education system to indoctrinate the children in the core Communist values that would ensure its future development. Ninety years later, Communism still thrives (despite what the media says).
Many great innovators and central figures in world history were Christians who sought to live out the mandate that was originally given by God to Adam and then passed on through generations. I am sure this statement sounds foreign to most peoples' thinking. The reason for this is that most of history, even specific church history, has been rewritten by those who hate God and Christianity. But we have allowed this to happen by withdrawing from positions of leadership in the institutions around us. We now find ourselves fighting on the world's terms, always playing catch-up ball, seldom setting the terms of debate. We need to take the offensive.
We need to develop and broaden a long-lost understanding of our place as Christians in society to reflect God's purposes. We are to use the talents God has given us to improve life for us and the world, while setting our focus on glorifying our heavenly Father.
In the life of Abraham, we see an explicit promise on the part of God to bless all other people, nations, governments, kings, and rulers through his descendants. "And in you all the households of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).
Woven through the fabric of history we see the recurrent theme that even those who do not claim to serve the God of the Bible have benefited from the application of biblical principles in their everyday lives, communities, and government.
If we want to truly bring the healing balm of the gospel to others, we cannot sit idly by and let our nation rot away into a humanistic, socialistic abyss. "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" is the command of our Savior in Matthew 5:16.
If our gospel is ineffective in providing answers to our world's problems, if we do not see that God's principles in the Bible are the best ideas for solving America's problems, then we are most to be pitied and our faith is worthless. As Jesus said, "If the salt has become tasteless...it is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men" (Matthew 5:13).
Convinced that this world is lost to evil, much of the Christian church has withdrawn into a corner and narrow-mindedly focuses on "soul-winning". It has packed its bags and is simply holding on, waiting for the rapture. As the saying goes, "We have become so heavenly minded that we are no earthly good." We have turned Christianity into little more than a secret language confined to the self-imposed catacombs of our church buildings. We have thus abandoned all quarters of culture and society, leaving a vacuum of leadership to be filled by the impish enemies of our sovereign God. Try explaining to a child how it is that God, the Creator, who is sovereign, omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, has nothing to do with life beyond salvation. What message does this send to future generations about how God governs all affairs of mankind? How are they encouraged and equipped to fulfill their part of God's redemptive plan, much less pass that vision on to future generations, with such a defeatist view? What vision of hope does this present to our children? Don not be surprised when those children live like the devil.
As parents we must be intoxicated with a desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ through all that we put our hearts and mind to do. How can we glorify the Lord Jesus Christ through our service to our employers, our communities, our government? We have a right and a responsibility to share God's solutions to problems. This is God's redemptive plan. In this greater view, then, we can share the gospel, not just by word but by deed. People will see how what we believe affects what we do.
Redemption involves meditating on the big picture. Therefore, by focusing on the bigger plan, redeeming not just souls, but a whole fallen world in all its complexity, we can be the best witness. Our children must be equipped with this pervasive understanding of their responsibility. Their commitment must be strong enough to pass on to their children. It is through this system that God's redemptive work is to be accomplished.
Having a multi-generational outlook means thinking long-term. Thinking long-term is difficult in a society that worships speed and efficiency. Many parents cannot wait until retirement to hop in the Winnebago and drive down to sunny Florida. Many of our nation's senior citizens have already done this, proudly displaying the bumpersticker, "I'm retired and spending my children's inheritance." In Deuteronomy 6:2, we read that God specifically tells parents that their responsibility extends to the third generation. God wants parents to see their responsibility as a long-term commitment that does not end when the children leave home or retirement.
Having a long-term perspective is crucial to raising children for at least two reasons. First, without it, many parents surely give up. Second, to produce faithful generations requires us to be oriented to the future, eagerly anticipating how our lives can contribute to God's work in the future. It will be difficult to expect our children to have a hopeful vision for the future if we are reluctant, passive and without hope ourselves. Short-term thinking is a perfect setup for failure. God continually reminds us to have our eyes on the future.
To help keep our thinking future-oriented, the Bible uses the following words: "remember," "testimony," "covenant," "generations," "inheritance," and "heritage". A long-term focus is crucial to persevere through the trials that we all encounter (Philippians 3:13-14; Romans 5:1-5). By thinking long-term, we can have hope. Our children can succeed where we have failed! But for this to happen, we must not let a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year distract us and lead us into a detour of despondency.
One of the hallmarks of a great leader is his ability to offer hope to those who have no hope. Hope is an increasingly scarce commodity. But our God is a God of hope! As God's children and as leaders, we must share this sense of hope with generations.
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