The Atomic Power of the Nuclear Family

 In the Midwest we make this comment a lot, "He/she comes from a good family."

I'm a rural Iowan and I have noticed that we Midwesterners put a lot of stock, more than we might even admit, in how much we gate keep and evaluate young people based on the family from which they come.  I'm not here to counter that either.  Surely there are numerous times when a snake came from a nest of doves and that sweetness came from a bitter jar, but the truth is that coming from a solid family is something worth noting in our initial evaluation of, especially, a young person we might want to hire or use as a babysitter.

The family is one of the most important institutions in the world.  The Church is the most important institution in the world.

I recently spent my personal Bible study time in the book of Ephesians.  As I read the book one theme came to the top as paramount: Christ through the Gospel has created the Church to be a unified, loving body.

In Ephesians Paul spends the first half helping people understand what God is up to and the second half applying that truth in our lives.  As my pastor Doug says, "Our orthodoxy informs our orthopraxy." In laymans terms, "Our correct understanding of God causes us to have correct behavior." Orthodoxy = right thinking.  Orthopraxy = right practice.

Paul's orthopraxic goal in the book of Ephesians is to help the readers live in a loving, unified local church and therefore create a loving, unified Church universal.

The loving unity of the Church is built at the atomic level.

Paul first addresses the individuals and then give guidance and instruction on the home.  He talks about the structure of self-sacrificing love, respect, submission and edification between husbands and wives. Then he instructs parents and children in the structure of obedience, grace, instruction and discipline.  He ends this section in chapters five and six by helping bondservants and masters live in the Godly pursuit of service to God and mutual submission of both as slaves of God.

Paul focuses so much on the family unit as it existed in the town of Ephesus because to build a healthy local church you need the building blocks of healthy families.  Let me show you in two verses:

"'Honor your father and mother' (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it might go well with you and that you may live long in the land." Ephesians 6:2-3

This verse quotes one of the 10 Commandments.  This is the commandment with a promise, which I might call an axiom.  This truism doesn't mean that if you honor your parents you will live to be 96 years old.  Obedient children are less likely to get hit by a car by darting into traffic as their mother shouts "stop!", but that's not what, "that you may live long in the land" means.  If Israel was going to be a thriving civilization in their new land the family would be a major key.  Parent-honoring communities will treat the old well and raise the young well and will therefore thrive.

What was true of the nation of Israel is true for the Kingdom.  The loving unity of the Church is built at the atomic level.

If we can't love and function well in a family how can we authentically do well in the local church?  Much of my darkness that is hidden from my community is exposed on a regular basis and inflicted upon on a regular basis my own household.  Here's another axiom: What is hidden will eventually be exposed.  We must, and I must, work out our faith in the training ground of the household or it will inevitably seep into the church and create ruptures in the loving unity Jesus prayed for in John chapter 17.

Christ through the Gospel has created the Church to be a unified, loving body and one of the ways we are part of experiencing this more fully is by working on aligning correct beliefs about the Gospel to how we function in our own families.  

So, this week think deeply about how you should treat your wife and then treat her as well as Jesus treats you. This week forgive your brother more than he deserves and as much as Jesus forgave you.  This week be as gentle and lowly in your fathering as Jesus is on the pages of the Gospels.  The loving unity of the Church is built at the atomic level; therefore focus on your family for the good of the Church and the good of the world today.