When Jesus captures our hearts as Christian believers, we embark on a life-long journey to learn to “walk by faith.” When we are doing so,
the Holy Spirit is expressing Jesus through us, wherever we go, whatever we do, and with whomever we meet.
Jesus has even told us that the very works that HE did while He was here on the earth as a man, we “will do also; and greater works than these he will do (the one whose heart Jesus has captured and is living by faith), because I go to My Father.“ (John 14:12). That’s because Jesus was one person, in only one place, while He was on the earth. However, when He “went to His Father” and sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, this “new Jesus,” His Body the Church, covers the whole earth.
From last week’s blog posting, we can see how that audacious statement is true. Jesus never once acted from His deity, but always only from His humanity. Furthermore, all those activities were invariably those of a little child who always did exactly what His Abba Father told Him to do!
So, we too are Daddy’s little children, who “walk in the light” with each other. We are, openly and eagerly, confessing our sins—the sins which God has already forgiven and forgotten. This owning of our sin is “dying” in our experience, and releases the Holy Spirit to express the life of Jesus out through us. Wherever we go, Jesus is there, sharing His peace, love and joy with all we meet, and THEY WILL BE CHANGED.
This is our calling; to be the instruments through whom God will naturally, spontaneously and unconsciously (NSU) fill the earth with the life of Jesus Christ. “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea“ (Habakkuk 2:14), because of us (NSU)! When we catch this vision of our purpose in life, the first area that will be affected, NSU, is the FAMILY
The Bible’s creation story is in Genesis 1, but the author gives us the details of the creation of man in Chapter 2, including the creation of woman, his “helper.” While Adam was the leader, the decision-maker or “direction-pointer,” Eve was his “co-ruler,” supplying necessary qualities such as insight, compassion and understanding he naturally lacked. They were “ready to roll” in their task of ruling over God’s beautiful creation.
Of course, the newly created Man, innocent but not righteous, went through God’s necessary and ordained “Fall” in order to learn God’s counter-intuitive way to live—last is first, serving is leading, and dying is living! Let’s see how that works in family life.
1. The Family – The Husband’s Role. Of His three institutions He has given us to use in our job, the family is the only one with a single individual with the full responsibility, biblically, to lead it—the husband (Ephesians 5:22-24; 1Corinthians 11:3). That leadership is based on the husband’s absolute, unconditional love for his wife (agape love – Ephesians 5:25-28). This love means that the husband’s leadership can be summarized with two words: FIRMNESS and COMPASSION.
The husband eagerly listens to the input of his wife (and his children as they get older and have opinions as to how the family should function). His response can be, “I really appreciate your great input, but we are going to do this instead” (His idea), or, “That was a great insight. We’ll do that” (their idea). Either way, the final decision is his: He is ALWAYS THE FINAL DECISION-MAKER; therefore full accountability is always his as well. All problems in family life are ultimately his fault!
I firmly believe that it is impossible to have a successful, biblical marriage that is vitally involved in our purpose of reflecting God’s image and ruling over the earth without the husband experiencing BOTH of these two characteristics—firmness and compassion—while recognizing his full accountability.
2. The Family – The Wife’s Role. The wife has a clearly defined role in the family as well. These verses, referenced above, also describe that role in the family clearly and distinctly: “Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, AS TO THE LORD. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. Therefore, as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything” (Ephesians 5:22-24).
In today’s culture, I am sure these verses are not only not emphasized, but even totally ignored in most evangelical churches. However, Proverbs 31:10-31, the last 21 verses of Proverbs, picture for us the almost limitless possibilities for women to exercise their gifts while always being under the authority and oversight of their husbands. It is mind-blowing—all done while the husband, a local politician, proudly beams from his seat of local authority, knowing that his wife is making him look sooo good!
I want to conclude this posting with my personal experience of this precise, Proverbs 31 phenomenon. When Jill and I moved to rural Washington State in 1998, we bought a small country farmhouse on some 80 acres. We had a specific amount of money from the sale of our Seattle house to remodel it. I told Jill how much money we had, found a great, experienced carpenter, and told Jill to “remodel this house.“ My only responsibilities in the project were to pay the carpenter every week, and be the gopher for lumber and materials for the carpenter and Jill.
I knew that Jill had design and other creative skills of which I was not even aware! When we sold that “farmhouse” 17 years later, it was an absolute showplace, worthy of an article in Architecture Digest! This was a classic example of Proverbs 31 in living color!
Next week we will look at weapon #2 in our ruling arsenal, the Church.
