Family Legacy

So no inheritance shall be transferred from one tribe to another, for each of the tribes of the people of Israel shall hold on to its own inheritance.

Numbers 36:9

 

The perpetuity of the inheritance in the Promised Land by tribe was prescribed in the Law by Moses. Why? Because the land was God’s blessing. It was home, family farm, and livelihood. And God did not want the nation to become a patchwork quilt of cross-tribal holdings. Keeping land within tribes assured that disputes over what was an important and vital possession would be minimal.

 

God cared enough for how Israel handled possessions and income that He prescribed common sense regulations to minimize property disputes. He knows that as human beings we get caught up in the stuff we have.

 

There is also a wonderful picture of the importance of family in this last chapter of Numbers. The daughters of Zelophahad were promised a share of their father’s allotment as long as they married within their father’s tribe. A sonless family could still carry on a legacy and keep its inheritance. This was something unheard of at that time. It speaks to the family’s crucial and indispensible role in society. And it was designed by God to promote continuity in families that obeyed Him throughout generations.

 

Technorati Tags: Christianity,Discipleship,Religion

Family Resemblance

But he answered them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."

Luke 8:21

Jesus came to bring God followers into His family. He was so motivated by this vision for reconciliation of mankind with the Father that He was compelled to describe these people as the real family to whom He belonged. This lesson should not get lost as some hard saying of Jesus. He did not feel contempt for His earthly mother and brothers. But He knew the real relationship existed with His heavenly Father. And those who obeyed the Word of God and lived it were God’s children’s. That made them real family.

It is faith in Christ that creates real kinship in the kingdom. If this was true for Jesus, it is also true for us… disciples live by the Word of God and evidence it in obedience. That change makes a fundamental difference and is the spiritual DNA that binds together the family of God in Christ. If I want to be close to Jesus, I need to be an obedient disciple. Following Christ by following the Word is the key to showing the family resemblance.

Sometimes the American evangelical church has misunderstood the role of the family. We have at times fostered a “family-olatry” that is disturbing to observe. It excludes single people from the body life of the church when all they hear are messages on parenting, marriage, or the home. After all, Jesus was single. How many marriage conferences did He attend? And He is the one who draws us all together.

I know why we have done this. American culture is ravaging the family as God designed it. But making the human family all that the church concentrates upon is not the answer. It starts with people as messed up as they are, but who are redeemed by the transforming grace of God. Then it teaches them what God says in His Word so that they can personally grow close to Jesus. The answer is to build individual disciples who are part of a bigger family… people about whom Jesus would unashamedly proclaim: “These are my mother and my sisters and my brothers.”

Technorati Tags: Luke,Jesus,Family,Discipleship

Family Ties

And he answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?"
And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother."

Mark 3:33-35

The family of Jesus did not fully identify with His message and purposes. We know that they already held the view that He had gone a little nuts (Mark 3:21). Now, as they track down Jesus to speak with Him, He knows what they want, and uses the opportunity to talk about those who really are closest to Him… those who will follow Him.

I have to think that any disciple of any age gains comfort and courage from this statement from Jesus. Many of us have followed at the cost of family ties. It is routine for me as a pastor to offer guidance and counsel to those whose family members think their new commitment to Jesus is some sort of weird involvement in a religious cult meant to steal them away from all that is good. Following Jesus is a bit radical in that regard, and for those still caught up in Satan’s snare, seems really strange. Jesus said love for Him trumps all other earthly commitments to the point where our love for Him looks like non-love for our family by comparison.

I have seen what this does in foreign environments not as sympathetic to faith as my own. Muslim families in West Africa will disown a newly baptized family member. For that new believer, the church does become family in a very real way. For a new believer in secularized Europe, scorn and intellectual snobbishness my meet any public profession of their knowledge of Christ. Jesus’ words still hold true.

I believe that more and more, Christianity is marginalized by secularized America as well. Faith is seen as an irrational, unknowable, personal belief. Christianity is lumped in the same category as crystal healings, alien abductions, and conspiracy theorists. We are disparaged for lacking evidential knowledge. Nothing could be further from the truth, and living faith must stand up and reason with the family that scorns us. We do so lovingly, carefully, respectfully, and prayerfully that they too may come to repentance.

Technorati Tags: Mark,Discipleship,Family

More Than We Bargain For

And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
Matthew 12:49-50

When we choose to follow Jesus, we get much more than we bargain for. This episode shows that Jesus saw the relationship that He had with His followers as more dear than that even of His own family. They wanted to speak with Him, but He chose to use the moment to talk about what was really dear to him. We know from the gospel of John that His brothers may have followed in the wake of His ministry, but they did not believe in Him. Perhaps they wished to speak with Him because of the controversy He had just created with the Jewish leaders. For whatever reason, Jesus contrasts His family with His disciples. When He asked His disciples to make allegiance to God greater than allegiance to family, He knew what He was asking from His own experience.

Of course, to be loved as family is the dearest love. And that is exactly what Jesus offered His men. He brought them to Him in relationship that was more intimate than a mere master/pupil environment common with the rabbis of His day. He brought them into a new family. And He viewed them as the closest of friends.

The same is true with disciples today. Jesus loves us dearly. He asks that our allegiance to Him surpass all earthly relationships, but then He gives us the best relationships even with our family that we could ever imagine. A relationship with Jesus gives full perspective on all our own relationships with people. We are blessed to be following Him and there is joy with all the people in our lives as a result.

Technorati Tags: Jesus,Discipleship,Family Dynamic

Continuity

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him.
Genesis 49:28

One generation carries on after another. This is a recurring theme in Genesis where a repeating refrain is "these are the generations of...". This passage expands upon that theme with some specific blessings that Jacob gives to each of his sons, prophetically describing how each tribe will later come to function in the future nation of Israel.

From one couple, God populated the world. From human sins and choices, God has made Himself known, provided for access to Him, and graciously redeemed people to Himself. All of that is in Genesis. And it is told in the context of families. From Adam and Eve, to Noah and his sons, from Abraham and Sarai, on to Jacob and his sons. In all the story of human history told in the book, the clear denominator is family and home as relating to God and His grace and revelation.

So despite the vast cultural differences separating me from the patriarchs, I can identify with that common theme. I have a family and I relate to family. I am called to come to God in the context of my life and that includes family. And so I will trust and follow Him, while caring for the needs of those whom God has called me to love and need first -- family!

Technorati Tags: Generations,Family,Jacob

Dysfunction Junction: the next generation

Jacob did so and completed her week, and he gave him his daughter Rachel as his wife.

Genesis 29:28

I find it remarkable that God worked beyond the sinful machinations within the families of the patriarchs in order to create a promised nation, give them a promised land, and covenant with them in a promised relationship. None of them was perfect as a family. Abraham basically pimped his wife out to pagan kings. He also committed polygamy at the suggestion of his wife. Isaac showed overt favoritism to one son over another, fighting with his wife in the process. Jacob was polygamous, eventually fathering the twelve tribes of Israel through four different women. And Jacob’s family was a factious mess, headed up by a neurotic, greedy, deceiving father.

Yet somehow God redeemed this mess in such a way that He clearly is shown to be the powerful provider of grace. God made the covenant with Abram. God kept it with him and his descendents. And somehow there was enough faith to satisfy His faithful love.

Families probably all have some level of dysfunction. It is inevitably the result of sin. The bigger challenge might be to find a definition of truly functional family and see it in real life! So God moves beyond human failures and relationship in ruin. He brings glory to Himself even in the most difficult of family environments. And His Word provides the resources to move beyond our sins and faults to create a home worthy of His glory.

Technorati Tags: Genesis,Family,Jacob,Dysfunctional Family