Family Matters
05/14/08
We celebrated mother’s day this past Sunday and I began a six week series entitled “Family Matters”. This series will look at various aspects of family life and God’s desire for us as we relate to one another in our families. It seems that families continue to face challenges and stresses that threaten to undermine them. These stresses and challenges are not new.
The truth is there have never been perfect families. Eugene Peterson makes the following observations about families in the Bible: “A search of Scripture turns up one rather surprising truth: there are no exemplary families. Not a single family is portrayed in Scripture in such a way so as to evoke admiration in us. There are many family stories, there is considerable reference to family life, and there is sound counsel to guide the growth of families, but not a single model family for anyone to look up to in either awe or envy.
Adam and Eve no sooner are out of the garden than their children get in a fight. Shem, Ham, and Japheth are forced to devise a strategy to hide their father's drunken shame. Jacob and Esau are bitter rivals and sow seeds of discord that bear centuries of bitter harvest. Joseph and his brothers emphasize the themes of sibling rivalry and parental bungling. Jesse's sons, brave and loyal in service of their country, are capricious and cruel to their youngest brother. David is unfortunate in both wives and children — he is a man after God's own heart and Israel's greatest king, but he cannot manage his own household.
Even in the family of Jesus, where we might expect something different, there is exposition of the same theme. The picture in Mark, chapter three, strikes us as typical rather than exceptional: Jesus is active, healing the sick, comforting the distressed, and fulfilling his calling as Messiah. His mother and brothers are outside trying to get him to come home, quite sure that he is crazy. Jesus' family criticizes and does not appreciate. It misunderstands and does not comprehend.
The biblical material consistently portrays the family not as a Norman Rockwell group, beaming in gratitude around a Thanksgiving turkey, but as a series of broken relationships in need of redemption…”
Over the next several weeks we will consider how God wants to work in your life and in your family relationships. Join us as we take God’s counsel and begin to see how God’s truths can shape your family relationships.
The truth is there have never been perfect families. Eugene Peterson makes the following observations about families in the Bible: “A search of Scripture turns up one rather surprising truth: there are no exemplary families. Not a single family is portrayed in Scripture in such a way so as to evoke admiration in us. There are many family stories, there is considerable reference to family life, and there is sound counsel to guide the growth of families, but not a single model family for anyone to look up to in either awe or envy.
Adam and Eve no sooner are out of the garden than their children get in a fight. Shem, Ham, and Japheth are forced to devise a strategy to hide their father's drunken shame. Jacob and Esau are bitter rivals and sow seeds of discord that bear centuries of bitter harvest. Joseph and his brothers emphasize the themes of sibling rivalry and parental bungling. Jesse's sons, brave and loyal in service of their country, are capricious and cruel to their youngest brother. David is unfortunate in both wives and children — he is a man after God's own heart and Israel's greatest king, but he cannot manage his own household.
Even in the family of Jesus, where we might expect something different, there is exposition of the same theme. The picture in Mark, chapter three, strikes us as typical rather than exceptional: Jesus is active, healing the sick, comforting the distressed, and fulfilling his calling as Messiah. His mother and brothers are outside trying to get him to come home, quite sure that he is crazy. Jesus' family criticizes and does not appreciate. It misunderstands and does not comprehend.
The biblical material consistently portrays the family not as a Norman Rockwell group, beaming in gratitude around a Thanksgiving turkey, but as a series of broken relationships in need of redemption…”
Over the next several weeks we will consider how God wants to work in your life and in your family relationships. Join us as we take God’s counsel and begin to see how God’s truths can shape your family relationships.