The Coming Renaissance Of Family

I was recently in Enfield England. The day my wife and I arrived our host took us to dinner in the tiny town of Enfield just outside London. After dinner we walked to the Cathedral and wandered around inside. There was a boy’s choir singing and their young voices were mesmerizing as they echoed throughout the great hall. We came upon a bulletin board with a caption over it that read Prayer Requests. There were tiny notes pinned all over the board and I noticed at least four fifths of the approximately forty of them were in children’s handwriting. I was moved in my heart as I read these. Every prayer request from the children was for their entire family, or their parents or for a specific member of their family. Of all the things a child could pray for they chose family without exception and I would suggest without hesitation. Children instinctively know that the most valuable thing in life is their family. Whether a child has a strong healthy family or torn and stressful family they know that the essence of life is family and their little notes reflected this value.

I don’t know if I have ever heard anyone talk about the immediate family of God? We tend to think of God as three bachelors. Father, Son and Spirit. But in a very mysterious and unconventional way God has an immediate earthly family. I am sure my ideas on this are going upset a great many people in a variety of ways. I don’t mind. I stopped trying to appease the general church population a long time ago. In reality I hope to upset you in some way shape or form.

The family of God is quite extraordinary. From a terrestrial perspective the family of Jesus is as unconventional as can be. From a Hebrew legal perspective my understanding is that Mary’s betrothal to Joseph was legal and binding even though they had not yet married. There was still a ceremony and consummation yet to happen. Nonetheless Mary was legally Joseph’s wife. And it was in this context we have the following event, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this: After his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.” Matthew 1:18

This dynamic thrust Jesus into this world in a cloud of controversy and mystery that stayed with Him and His mother Mary their entire life. Jesus adopted father Joseph fades from the biblical narrative so we have no idea what Joseph had to endure over this issue. During His brief ministry Jesus defended His legitimacy on more than one occasion.

Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this. You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.” Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. John 8:39-42

From a legal standpoint the Jews against Jesus had a point. Even if they believed that a Spirit impregnated Mary she was already betrothed to another man thus making her conception an illegal and immoral act in their eyes according to their understanding of their law. Don’t get me wrong here, I understand that the impregnation of Mary was not immoral; I am just saying that the very grid by which society would view her through cast a shadow of doubt and immorality on the situation. For Spirit to become flesh it had to enter into the complex realm of law and sin itself.

“For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf” II Corinthians 5:21

What’s my point here? My point is that God Himself in the body of Jesus had a family life that was riddled with controversy, messiness and the very stuff of life itself. Mary eventually had other children thus making Jesus life on earth a family life with siblings and all, and a complex one at that.

Family Is The Measuring Stick Of Whole Success The most successful and rewarding achievement in the world is raising a family. History-past and life-present is filled with the unfortunate stories of those who have achieved great success in business, entertainment, politics and ministry. Yet the success they achieved cost them their family thus downgrading their success as partial failure. True success is done in such a way that brings the family along leaving none behind. If a man or woman is ambitious and unhindered by the constraints of family then a measure and kind of success can come fairly easy. But to achieve a measure of success in the context of healthy family is the standard by which all other successes are measured. This kind of success requires a family culture that values the individual goals, dreams and desires of all family members equally.

God placed Adam in the garden and then provided Adam a mate that resulted in the first family on earth. We all know the result was tragic as Adam and Eve were cast from the garden and eventually one of their siblings killed the other. Fortunately their family life didn’t end there and they were able to continue for many hundreds of years procreating, subduing and taking dominion of their portion of the earth. From the Garden of Eden until today the accomplishment of family supersedes all endeavors.

The very mechanism by which God will establish His kingdom here on earth is family. To this very day non-Jewish Christian children all over America sing, “Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them and so are you. So, let's all praise the Lord. Right arm”. Think about this, we have attached our spiritual faith heritage to a father whose very claim to fame is that he believes God. And it is through the progeny of Abraham all other families of the earth experience blessing (See Gen 18:18). In Genesis 17:5 God calls Abraham the “father of many nations”. This is important because this tells us that nations are actually fathered. And fathers learn their leadership and earn their status in the context of family. A terrible father will probably be a terrible leader and visa versa. Thus my subtitle, “Family Is The Measuring Stick Of Whole Success”.

Family And Ministry Even though the New Testament offers some principals and guidelines for family life the New Testament is more about the Gospel and the progression of it than it is about healthy family living. The Apostle Paul preferred to live without the restraints of marriage. (1st Cor 7:7) Paul was also bent on martyrdom demanding that his case of supposed insurrection be taken to all the way to Caesars court where Caesar Nero eventually put him to death. Paul was fully aware that might be the case, and it was. (See Acts 26:32) My point is that the celibacy of Paul and his preference that those who desire to serve the Lord exclusively remain single like him is not Gods grand scheme. It was Paul’s preference for the sake of the call on his life. There are those who sacrifice their own life for the sake of others. I have friends who are in their mid 30’s who have momentarily decided to sideline marriage and family life for the sake of the gospel. Just like a soldier who leaves all to defend his country for the sake of other families. These are high and noble pursuits that I personally admire and am grateful for.

In light of this it is Family that is essential for the kingdom of God to progress and for culture and society to experience blessing and fullness. We must continually learn and grow in our wisdom and guiding core values on how to do family, and how to do it better. Procreation in the context of believing families is Gods primary plan. This is why there is an attack on the biblically defined Christian family. Social and political arrows are flying across the bows of Christian family from every direction.

The Power Of Fatherhood "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke. I cannot think of a more powerful and influential role in the world than fatherhood. The role of fatherhood is sacred, essential and is the very core of social, cultural and societal health. Lets face it, this is Americas Achilles heel and we have been losing the battle. Hilary Clinton said, “the future is female” in her first public speech since losing the presidential election to Donald Trump. I understand what she means based on the context in which she said it. She is sounding a clarion call to the feminist movement to keep moving forward. Even though progressive feminism is the worst thing ever for women. They support Islam, abortion and gender neutrality. All of these are devastating to women’s rights. My understanding is that Saudi Arabia was one of Hilary’s largest political donors via the Clinton Foundation. Think about this, Islam is the most oppressive religion in human history towards women. And Saudi Arabia is known as an extremist Muslim country.

Then we have abortion, which is a literal act of raiding a woman’s womb and dismantling a human fetus. I personally cannot count the number of times I have consoled and comforted a woman with a broken heart as she is reminded every time the would-be birthday of her child comes around. I am so glad for Gods grace and mercy on us all for the mistakes we have made in the past.

Lastly, the issue of gender neutrality which allows men who identify as women to use women’s restrooms. All of these are pure evil and totally degrading of women. Yet they are part of Hilary’s feminist agenda. I predict a great awakening of women across America and it will probably be women that defeat feminism. Along with the feminist movement comes the emasculation of the male gender, and the political pressure towards a mainstream genderless (male-less) society. Is this because we Fathers have lost our moral ground due to shame from pornographic addictions or extra marital affairs? Is the burgeoning genderless culture and feminist movement the eventual and inevitable fallout because of failing fathers? What the world needs now more than ever is Fathers and Mothers. Mothers are uniquely gifted by God to raise children and Fathers are uniquely gifted by God to shape lives and encourage character. If America is going to be “Great Again” it will be due to the great fathers and mothers and a renaissance of family.

I want to close this Blogpost with a recent post I created on Facebook.

“As I watch the thugs protest and observe the politics of the Democratic party who's language and rhetoric only inflames and emboldens the violence I realized something. These are not liberals or socialist or any other political movement. This is pure evil and hatred against America. The Berkley riots against Milo proves this. Don’t be deceived, we are witnessing an attempt to destroy our country by use of social engineering, manipulation and a multi decade campaign of emasculation of the American male and confusing of the definition of family. Since when did liberal left wing American politics become the party of pro Islam? Fundamental Islam despises them and everything they (and we) stand for. These are the actions of hate and anarchy against our republic and the perpetrators are having their way paved by corrupt judges and politicians who have slithered their way into our government funded by Soros who is of the spirit of antichrist. America is under attack from within and it is pure demonic manifestation in our face and spewing from our streets and universities. Dear lovers of God, haters of abortion and every other vile agenda of Satan, we may find ourselves in the streets defending the values and the individuals we put in office. Reviving America may not be as simple as a vote. We may have to actually do something. As singer songwriter Phil Keaggy once wrote, "Rise up oh men of God, the church for you doeth pray". Our best days may be ahead but Trump cant do it alone....... Oh, and good morning, its a lovely day”