Friday: Further Thought – Keys to Family Unity
Further Thought: Ellen G. White, “A Sacred Circle”, pages 77-180, in The Adventist Home; Testimonies for the Church, vol. 6, pages 236-238.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
Unity—the first work. “The first work of Christians is to be united in the family. … “The more closely the members of a family are united in their work in the home, the more uplifting and helpful will be the influence that father and mother and sons and daughters will exert outside the home”. – Ellen G. White, The Adventist Home, p. 37.
The secret of family unity. “The cause of division and discord in families and in the church is separation from Christ. To come near to Christ is to come near to one another. The secret of true unity in the church and in the family is not diplomacy, not management, not a superhuman effort to overcome difficulties—though there will be much of this to do—but union with Christ”. – Page 179.
Discussion Questions:
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Christians have failed to be obedient in keeping the unity for which Jesus prayed. The tragedy in this failure is that God’s purposes are evangelistic – that the whole world would know Him through the unity of His followers: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in Me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as You are in Me and I am in You. May they also be in Us so that the world may believe that You have sent Me. I have given them the glory that You gave Me, that they may be one as We are one: I in them and You in Me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me and have loved them even as You have loved Me” (John 17:20-23).
Our unity is a key to convincing those outside of Christ that He lives. Jesus’ prayer should serve as a convicting rebuke to us, His followers, because of the bitter and senseless divisions we allow within our churches, and within even our own families. He has set the standard for unity – the unity between the Father and the Son. Because the Father and Son are one, we are now one with Jesus. And because we are one with Him, we have everything we need to demonstrate Him to others.
“I have made You known to them, and will continue to make You known in order that the love You have for Me may be in them and that I Myself may be in them” (John 17:26).
The active demonstration of a unified body of Christ is a primary way for the world to know Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Unity Begins with Families
Unity for believers must begin at the level of the family before it can truly characterize the Church. God created families long before He created the Church. He gave many specific instructions to families with the intent of unifying husbands and wives and children into a unit that would honor and reverence Him. His expectations were specific and straightforward whether in the Old Testament or the New: “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). “[Jesus] answered: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27).
Can you imagine how quickly God’s kingdom would grow if the Church was comprised of unified families obediently carrying out the Great Commandment and the Great Commission? If each individual family member, and each relationship represented within each family, would determine to live in unity, and if we were all committed to loving the Lord with a desperate passion, and to loving others as Jesus loves us…perhaps then, a watching world would be drawn to the Father. A family should and must begin with unity –connection, identity, building up of one another, etc. God has given much instruction to parents and to children about their relationships within their families. Only in unity are we able to carry out these relationships successfully, and in ways that are pleasing to the Lord. In order for unbelievers to truly know the love of Christ, they must see it in the unified, loving families that comprise Jesus’ Church.
The way society has been organized lately may negatively influence the family unity. Use of smartphones and social network can also help to diminish the family members interaction and communication. Lack of Bible or religious literature study can also be missing. Love of God is supposed to help in the love for others, which turns to the pure religion.
In summary of this week lesson: Bible reading in the family circle has an effect on every member. Getting to know the Author together will ameliorate a spirit of rivalry, love of ambition, and the desire to be first. It is here in the family circle with open Bible and prayer together, where we become kind and thoughtful, humble in opinion of ourself, yet full of hope and always trusting in the mercy and the love of God.
Brother Herscher: Amen!