Family Discipleship

CCBC Class

Hour 1

(Introduce myself, my family, and what I currently do)

PRAY

I will venture to say most of if not all of our desires in this room is to be married and have a family.

For a lot of us, having a family is far away. For some it might be sooner. For some, a family may not be in God’s plan. And that’s okay.

This part of our lives, whenever it comes to fruition, is incredibly important.

The family, not even just with our own marriage in children but being in a family in general, is a source of joy, love, and deep spiritual growth and all of this was ordained by God Himself.

But I do want to recognize that this subject is an area of great pain and brokenness. It’s okay to admit that and continually find rest in Christ in the midst of the pain.

I approach this teaching with the knowledge that because of the fall of man in to sin we have brokenness in the family and we will endure that until Jesus returns or until we die.

There are very few things that satan comes against like he comes against the family. Our culture, is seeking to destroy and undermine God’s design for the family. Transgenderism, homosexuality, and the like are simply manifestations of the deep brokenness of this creation and how man continually seeks to be their own God and subvert Christ’s kingdom.

I approach this teaching with the knowledge of my own flaws, mistakes, and sin. I am still not the Husband, father, or man of God I desire to be. The gospel assures us of restoration and healing on the deepest level and though we cannot be confident in ourselves, we can be confident in Him. I believe that’s what we’ll see today. This same faithful savior who saved us desires to strengthen us to be the men and women he’s called us to be and the husbands, fathers, wives, and moms he’s called us to be in a god-hating world.

So how should we start with family discipleship? Here’s what we’re gonna do: We’re going to start this first hour exploring a biblical-theology of the family. We’re going to look at the storyline of scripture and it’s overarching narrative (the Gospel) and show how the two themes of discipleship and family are fused together by the person of Christ.

Then we will look at practical implications. We will explore what discipleship can look like in the home.

So let’s do some theology together and search the scriptures to see God’s redemption unfold throughout History....

The starting point: The Garden

Turn to Genesis 1. I cannot stress enough the importance of getting the garden right. If you don’t get the garden right you’re likely to have a faulty understanding of the rest of the bible and the gospel itself.

God creates

God simply speaks and everything comes into existence.

Out of nothing He creates the glorious universe and everything in it.

But the climax of all of God’s creation is Man (Read Vs 25-27)

The Curse on Display: Post-Garden family brokenness

The Promise unfolding: Israel- A national “family”

The Promise Fulfilled: Christ, His Church, and His Mission

"God grants offspring and commands that they be brought up to

worship and serve him. In all the world this is the noblest and most

precious work, because to God there can be nothing dearer than the

salvation of souls..There is no greater or nobler authority on

earth than that of parents over their children, for this authority is

both spiritual and temporal."

-Martin Luther

“We deeply want a revival of domestic religion. . . . The Christian

family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the Puritans, but

in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have

no family worship ... and no wholesome instruction or discipline.

... How can we hope to see the kingdom of our Lord advance

when his own disciples do not teach his gospel to their own sons

and daughters?"

-Charles Spurgeon