As For Me and My House
Families are important. From the very beginning of the Bible in Genesis, the genre of family dominates the narrative. From Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Isaac and Jacob, the stories of Genesis are not just of individuals or nations, but of families and their activities. In the New Testament, families continue to take on a strong focus. Jesus taught much on the subject of marriage and family and the Apostles Peter and Paul wrote lengthy codes to give instruction to Christian households on how they should conduct themselves within the family (Ephesians 5:22-6:9, Colossians 3:18-4:1, Titus 2:1-10, 1 Peter 2:13-3:7). In Singapore, our Government has also designated 2022 as the “Year of Celebrating SG Families”, recognising the important role that strong families play in our society.
…marriage and families are under attack from liberal culture which seeks to undermine the institution of marriage…
However, despite their importance in church and society, the position of marriage and family have often been misplaced. On the one hand, marriage and families are under attack from liberal culture which seeks to undermine the institution of marriage, one man and one woman for life. Sexual promiscuity and “sex before marriage” is common, not to mention the push to accept homosexual and alternative sexual orientations as normal. On the other hand, some have made idols of their spouses and children, forgetting that Jesus teaches in Luke 14:26 that, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Others have made marriage an ideal that every Christian should strive for, ignoring Paul’s suggestion that it is better to remain single (1 Corinthians 7:7) and that for much of church history, right up to the time of the reformation, celibacy was viewed as a holy vocation.
But, perhaps, as the title of our sermon series in October 2022 suggests, God and family implies that before we speak of our “earthly” families, we must first and foremost remember that we belong to God’s family. Paul states in Ephesians 2:19, that followers of Jesus are “members of the household of God” and in Galatians 6:10, “the household of faith.” This points us to the reality that all Christians are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and that our heavenly family is eternal, whereas the earthly one is temporal. Our primary commitment and allegiance as Christians then, is to God, our heavenly Father.
…we must not be afraid of society becoming hostile to God’s vision of marriage and family.
Secondly, we must not be afraid of society becoming hostile to God’s vision of marriage and family. For the first 300 years of the church, the church did not know of a government that was friendly to their values or standards of morality. If anything, Roman society was overtly opposed to Christian values on sex and marriage - wives were expected to turn a blind eye to their husbands’ sexual infidelity, homosexuality was considered unremarkable and prostitution and orgies were commonplace. Yet, the church was strong and grew rapidly. What we must do, is to faithfully teach God’s vision of marriage and family, and stand together as God’s people against the influence of the world.
…we all have a part to play in strengthening God’s vision of marriage and family in the church and society.
Thirdly, we should recognise that we are all part of God’s purpose for families. Whether we are single, married, divorced, widowed or remarried, we all have a role in supporting marriage and families. Be it helping couples in different stages of marriage by bringing fresh perspectives to one another, or babysitting young children to release their parents for a date night, we all have a part to play in strengthening God’s vision of marriage and family in the church and society.
As we commence our God and Family Series in October 2022, my prayer is that we will position marriage and family rightly in the context of our discipleship. And over the next few weeks, as we look at the subjects of Marriage, Singleness, Sexuality and Children, may God help us above all, to learn to follow Him better and give ourselves wholly to serve Him and His kingdom.
Rev Jeremy Ong
