FAMILY MATTERS: GOD’S DESIGN FOR THE FAMILY

Scott Bullman 

“We live in a culture that seems to be attempting to redefine everything that God has ordained. This is especially seen in issues of family, marriage, and gender. Our culture as a whole is not just becoming more accepting of a new definition of family but is aggressively pushing this redefinition as good, healthy, and enlightened.” – Ken Ham 

Genesis 2:18-24 (ESV) 
“Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So, the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore, a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” 

Matthew 19:3-6 (ESV) 
“And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause?” He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” 

Colossians 3:1-3 (ESV) 
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” 

Colossians 3:18-21 (ESV) 
“Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.”

The Wife’s Role 

“Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord” – Col. 3:18 (ESV) 

Submit = “to arrange under rank… to come up under.” 

The Husband’s Role 

“Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them” – Col. 3:19 (ESV). 

“The white noise of cultural confusion has left men insecure and unsure of our manhood. So, we settle for something far less than what God originally intended.” – Mark Batterson 

The Children’s Role 

“Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” – Col. 3:20 (ESV)
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents… – Romans 1:28-30 (ESV) 

The Parent’s Role 

“Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” – Col. 3:21 (ESV) 

You can embitter your child by… 
1. … Not Disciplining Them.
2. … Abusing Them or Giving Improper Discipline.
3. … Neglecting Them.
4. … Never Encouraging Them and Showing Them Affection.
5. … Showing Favoritism Toward Other Siblings. 

“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” – Eph. 6:4 (ESV)