Topic: Family Government by Tony Evans Ministry – The Urban Alternative 5 January  2024

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Family Government

If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. – (Joshua 24:15)

In biblical family government, there used to be a time when it was clear that the father was the head of this government. There used to be a time when it was understood that, like Joshua, a father’s most important role was saying, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).

In biblical family government, the responsibility for educating children rested with the home. It was the duty of parents, not the state, to see to the education of their children and make sure they were raised in the “discipline and instruction of the Lord” (see Ephesians 6:4; compare with Deuteronomy 6:1-9).

The only way parents can fulfill that command is to apply God’s truth to every area of a child’s life and education.

But when we turn the education of our children over to the state, and the state removes biblical ethics from its curriculum, what you get is the mess we have now. What we have now in education is information devoid of godly ethics.

Likewise in biblical family government, economics and charity resides in the family. You could not go to the church for money until the church first asked, “Have you gone to your parents, siblings, or other relatives for help first?” (see 1 Timothy 5:4, 8).

You couldn’t skip over your family and jump to the church. And you certainly couldn’t skip over the family and the church and jump to the federal government and say, “It’s payday. Hand me a check.”

The family is to be the backbone of biblical society. That is why, when family govern- ment fails, woe is everything else because everything else is predicated on the family. The saga of a nation is the saga of its families written large.

Reflection: No matter how your children receive their schooling, in what ways have you taken seriously that their education is primarily your duty? In what ways could you do better? Does your family government run smoothly? How could you make things better for others within your family?

I pray for families of those in my church today, Lord. I pray for grace among relationships. I pray for healing where there has been hurt or division. I also pray for peace and strength in families so that You may glorify Yourself in them.

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