1 Timothy 5:8- Basis of good Christian families.
Let’s see some families which were chosen by God and their traits.
Examples of Good Families: And besides all that, the Word of God also supplies us with many fine examples of Godly families.
1. The Family of Noah is the first example of a Godly family:
In Genesis 6:18 God told Noah “But with thee will I establish My covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee.” In a world so wicked that God brought destructive judgment upon it, the family of Noah was the only family living in obedience to the Lord. How wonderful it must have been to see Noah and his three sons with their respective wives working and building the ark together, and also experiencing God’s deliverance from the Flood together as a family. Perhaps one of the reasons why Noah was able to stand firm against the evil of his day was because he enjoyed the peace and sanctity of a godly home. That is one of the benefits of belonging to a godly family. Dearly beloved, like Noah we are living today in the midst of an ungodly world. How great therefore is our need to have godly homes, good Christian families that will enable each family member to stand against the strong evil influences around us.
2. The family of Moses is another example:
The 11th chapter of Hebrews tells us of the faith of Amram and Jochebed, the parents of Moses who defied pharaoh’s command by faith and hid Moses for three months. When they could no longer hide him, they floated him down the Nile River in a basket and God caused Moses to be found by the Egyptian princess. Amram and Jochebed had three children: Aaron and Miriam, the siblings of Moses, served God as high priest and prophetess respectively, and Moses of course became the great deliverer and Lawgiver of Israel.
3. In the book of Jeremiah (chapter 35)
the obedience of the family of Jonadab the son of Rehab is used by God as an example for the disobedient nation of Israel. The Rechabites strictly observed their father’s command to dwell in tents and to abstain from drinking wine. Even when Jeremiah offered to them pots of good wine, they refused to yield.
4. In the New Testament one family that is mentioned very favourably was the family of Philip the evangelist.
Acts 21:8,9 – “And the next day we that were of Paul’s company departed, and came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” The remarkable thing about Philip’s family that Luke observed was that his four unmarried daughters were serving the Lord, like Philip, their father. Verse 8 tells us that they prophesied. This could have two meanings. It could mean that they were all endowed with a special gift of receiving supernatural predictions from God, in an age when the written Word was not available to believers yet. Or alternatively it could mean that they like their father were engaged in proclaiming the Gospel, and teaching God’s Word. Whatever v.8 means, one thing is definite: Philip’s daughters loved the Lord as much as their father. And the fact that warms our hearts is that they were serving God together as a family. According to Eusebius the church historian, Philip and his four daughters later moved to Hierapolis in Asia Minor because of persecution, and there they provided the famous church father Papias with valuable information for his writings on the early days of the Jerusalem church.
III. The Principles for Christian Family Life
Having seen how prominent the family is in the Bible, we now go on to learn some principles that must serve as the foundation or basis of the Christian family. Now these principles need to be practiced and applied, and there is not enough time now to discuss the very many practical issues in family life that are involved in applying them. Right now we are going to look at the two principles that form the basis for building a godly Christian home: The first is commitment to each other and then commitment to God.
Sol.Paulose