The Gospel Builds a Family
Fluids, mucus, skin, organs, hair, soul, mind, heart, blood and strength make up a human being. Multiple human beings located in close proximity makes up a community, city or special group. Multiple human beings, though not located in close proximity, related to the same father resemble a family. A family is built by kids being born and the parents adopting. Children listen to their father’s instruction, grow in his wisdom, obey his words, receive his discipline, rejoice in his love and believe him to be good news.
Fluids, mucus, skin, organs, hair, soul, mind, heart, blood and strength make up a human being. Multiple human beings located in close proximity makes up a community, city or special group. Multiple human beings, though not located in close proximity, related to the same father resemble a family. A family is built by kids being born and the parents adopting. Children listen to their father’s instruction, grow in his wisdom, obey his words, receive his discipline, rejoice in his love and believe him to be good news.
Just as God has structured the earthly family, so has he structured the heavenly family. Jesus declared to the crowd around him, that though the people see and hear his immediate earthly family, it is the family that does the will of God is his heavenly family (Mark 3:31-35). Jesus does not resort to demeaning his earthly family, putting them down for being trite human beings, and poking fun at their inabilities to be heavenly, rather, Jesus utilizes the temporary moment to teach about the eternal lifespan of God’s family.
Kid’s concept of family, whether positively or negatively, allows any pastor, teacher or parent to describe God’s design for uniting believers around one father, as a family, through belief in Jesus and called to love each other (locally, universally). A local family of believers is known as a church, and operates as a family gleaning from the father’s instruction, wisdom, discipline, love and good news. When a family member gets sick (physically or spiritually), the family comes together to bear the burden.
Just as a family lives among a neighborhood, so God lived among a neighborhood (John 1:14). God the Son came to our neighborhood to adopt a bunch of us orphans into his Father’s family. As adopted orphans, our Father calls us to be like Jesus in loving our neighbor. God is building the best family ever through the gospel. Anchor the gospel into lesson plans, classroom management, curriculum, training sessions, Bible reading, relationships, pulpit, thank you cards, heart motivations, ministry perspective and the means by which the church grows (in health and numerically).
To be continued …
Further Reading:
Vintage Church: Timeless Truths and Timely Methods
———-
This is part of the blog posts series from Missional Education on the gospel in children’s ministry.
