The Godly Family

// INTRODUCTION

Trigger Warning

Acknowledge: This message may touch wounds — divorce, loss, broken homes.

Emphasize: There is no condemnation, only an invitation to align with God’s Word.

Purpose: Not to shame, but to restore the high view of family that God intended.

THE FAMILY AS GOD’S IDEA

Before the Church, before Israel, before the Law — God established family.

Family is heaven’s first institution, not man’s.

Genesis 1:26–28 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Family Values

What does your family value?

What would an outsider say about your family?

Transition: Every family carries values — some by design, others by default. But God designed His family with intention.

Family Portraits in the Beginning (Genesis)

FamilyLessons

Adam & Eve

Foundation of creation & fall

Noah

Righteous remnant amid corruption

The First 11 Chapters of Genesis deal with just a couple families and world history. The Remaining 39 follow Abraham and his family!

Abraham & Sarah

Faith, promise, generational covenant

Isaac & Rebekah

Favor and deception

Jacob, Leah, Rachel

Twelve tribes from one complicated home

Even “chosen” families had fractures — but God still used them.

Family is both holy and human.

Transition: Let’s zoom into that first family in the Garden.

GOD’S DESIGN IN THE GARDEN

Created in His Image (Gen. 1:26–27)

Genesis 1:26–27 ESV

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Humanity reflects the relational nature of God — Father, Son, Spirit.

Relationship isn’t optional — it’s ontological (who we are).

We are made in God’s image - he was never alone, he was relational himself. THEREFORE, if we are made in His image, we were created and designed to be in relationship.

The First Family Command (Gen. 1:28)

Genesis 1:28 ESV

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue, and have dominion.

Dominion is exercised best through unity and partnership.

We see throughout history if one person is given sole ownership, it is only a matter of time before things become imbalanced and corruption ensues.

Living life in relationship and partnership will create that balance and the results will be much more fruitful – it’s an exponential multiplier to results.

“It is Not Good for Man to Be Alone” (Gen. 2:18)

Genesis 2:18 ESV

18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Word study “not good”: בַּד (bad) = separated, isolated, incomplete.

Everything else was “good” — only aloneness was not good.

God’s definition of “good” in Genesis isn’t just about moral quality as we would think it. It’s about function, order, and completeness (was the creation finished? Did it hit the intended mark? “in our image and likeness”)

When God calls something “good,” it means that it is functioning as He designed it.

When God says that “it is not good that the man should be alone,” he’s not saying that Adam is in the wrong for being alone– he’s saying that Adam is not complete.

Transition: God created man in his image and likeness to live in communion!

THE RELATIONAL REFLECTION OF GOD

Up to this point in the Creation narrative, God has said everything is “GOOD”

This is the first time that God says something is “not Good”

This is a HUGE deal!

God’s nature is relational — Trinity as eternal community.

Therefore, to be “in His image” means to live in relationship:

God’s creation is good when it reflects His nature. God is relational. Therefore, isolation is not good.

Relationship with God and with others is where goodness is complete.

THE FALL AND THE DEVIL’S PLAYBOOK

1 Peter 5:8 ESV

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

2 Corinthians 11:14 ESV

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Luke 22:31 ESV

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,

2 Corinthians 2:11 ESV

so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

The Devil’s Strategy To Destroy You

What the devil can’t defeat, he will distract. What he can’t distract, he will distort. What he can’t distort, he will divide. What he can’t divide, he will discourage.

What he can’t discourage — he can’t destroy.

The Curse of the Fall

Distort

The Devil couldn’t defeat or distract Adam and Eve, so he went to distort.

Genesis 3:1 “1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?””

Divide

Once the Devil distorted truth he moved to divide.

God confronts Adam on the situation.

Adam’s response Genesis 3:12 “12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.””

Immediate blame and division in their unity.

Discourage

Genesis 3:7 “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

Upon eating the fruit, they felt shame for the first time and immediately covered themselves and hid.

THE BLESSING OF MARRIAGE

Cultural Contrasts & Modern Stats

These are stats of a portion of society, not the story for every divorce or troubled home situaiton.

Currently, the average marriage lasts ~20 years – meaning that couples are staying together to get the kids out of the house, then separating. This would indicate that the marriage was over long before the 20 year mark.

The median divorce at 8 years (7-year itch).

CULTURAL INFLUENCES: No-fault divorce, cultural shifts of women & mothers in the workforce (allowed for women to leave abusive marriages), individualism (self gratification), decline of faith — all eroded the institution God built.

Culture has normalized what Scripture calls broken. But God can still redeem what’s been redefined.

“He Who Finds a Wife Finds a Good Thing”

Proverbs 18:22 ESV

22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord.

Hebrew: matsaʾ = to find, acquire, recognize, discern, receive.

It’s not possession; it’s recognition of a divine favor (gift & grace).

The difference between possess and pursue —

You don’t own your spouse; you honor them. You don’t claim them; you recognize them. You don’t take; you enter covenant.

The Blessing Continues

Proverbs 19:14 ESV

14 House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

Proverbs 31:10-31 is all about the excellent and virtuous wife

Proverbs 31:28 ESV

28 Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:

Ephesians 5.25-33 gives guidance for a Godly Household

Ecclesiastes 4:9–12 ESV

9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. 10 For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! 11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? 12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

THE BLESSING OF CHILDREN & LEGACY

Proverbs 13:22 ESV

22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.

Psalm 127:3–5 ESV

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. 5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Psalm 78 tells us to declare the mighty works of God to the coming generation!

Proverbs 17:6 ESV

6 Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of children is their fathers.

3 John 4 ESV

4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

The blessing of family multiplies through generations — faith, not just our physical DNA, but faith is the true inheritance.

CLOSING

Recap the Flow

God designed family in His image.

Satan attacked through distortion and division.

Christ redeems through covenant and restoration.

The Church’s calling is to model family that reflects heaven.

Call to Action

Restore honor to marriage and home.

Break cycles of division and distortion — these may not be from you specifically but in your prior lineage. You are never too old to break those generational curses.

Rebuild family altars — prayer, unity, and blessing across generations.

Joshua 24:15 ESV

15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”