Class Outline:

We aplogize. There is no recording for this class. 

Sunday May 21, 2023

Title: 2 Thess 1:1-12, Come Home to Your Family.

Theme: Christ restored, beyond measure, our lost family and home. We endure for its fulfillment in time.

1. Perseverance in life and in community.
   1. It is more than surviving but thriving.
      1. Faith is increasing beyond measure (1:3).
      2. Love is abounding to all (1:3).
      3. Faith and love comprise the Christian walk.
2. Why endure?
   1. Gain the glory of Christ (2:14).
      1. What is the glory of Christ?
         1. All that God is in human limitation and struggle. He is God’s will for humanity.
         2. All Scripture centers on Him.
            1. We cannot learn it all at once. We have to choose the parts and learn each one well. Today we focus on family and home. 
3. Family and home lost and restored.
   1. Love “each one of all of you toward one another.” (overly literal translation of 1:3)
   2. 2TH 3:6-15, keep away from the brother who leads an unruly life: undisciplined, won’t work, busybody.
      1. Don’t associate with him so that he may be put to shame. Not as an enemy, admonish like a brother.
      2. Why does God want discipline in the church? Protect the family and the home. 
         1. God made us in His image.
         2. Not good for the man to be alone or homeless.
         3. God is not alone (Trinity) or homeless (heaven despite being omnipresent).
         4. When we fell the family unity fell apart and the home was lost.
         5. Christ came to restore both, but abundantly beyond all that was lost.
   3. Now we are in Christ’s image and can glorify Him (being like Him) and gain His glory (being like Him).
      1. How do we glorify Him? Being like Him has many, many parts. So we chose one. Family and home.
         1. Family in love.
         2. Home in blessing and peace.
4. Genesis theme of family and home.
   1. GEN 1:2-2:3 the world was a deliberate plan and purpose of one transcendent God.
   2. The garden paradise represented the ideal vision of human life. Humanity in relationship with God, in relationship with one another, and at home in creation.
      1. The source of the world’s waterways flowed out from Eden. Wholeness and blessing God’s word for it was shalom (also sabbath).
   3. The fall was a colossal collapse.
      1. The woman was made from the man, hence Isshah was from Ish and Adam identifies himself for the first time by this name (her addition gave him his identity). The companion and co-ruler became a competitor and opponent.
      2. Adam was made from the earth. He tilled and cared for the earth, but then he was engaged in a relentless struggle with it.
         1. In the end the earth would win and Adam would return to it.
      3. They are exiled.
         1. They lost the harmony of family and their home in creation.
         2. Consequences would snowball from there.
   4. Genealogies. Family.
      1. Seed of the woman, GEN 3:15 - protoevangelium.
      2. The first ten generations from Seth end in Noah (“rest”).
      3. The generations from Cain would end in Lamech - murderer.
      4. Thousands of years go by in a few pages, each generation ending in death and then the whole drama slows with Abram (Gen 12).
   5. By one family the earth would be blessed.
      1. Jacob blesses Pharoah (most powerful man on the earth at the time; GEN 47:7, 10).
      2. Isaac is a miracle child. Child of the promise. 
   6. Problems in the family and the home.
      1. Creating family and home in a fallen world with fallen people.
      2. Ishmael and Isaac.
         1. Cast out the bondwoman and her son.
         2. Isaac - “laughter” = blessing would come in the most impossible way.
         3. Isaac remains in the land.
         4. Isaac receives the Abrahamic Covenant.
      3. Jacob and Esau.
         1. Esau gives away the birthright and loses the blessing.
            1. Goes away from the land to Edom.
         2. Jacob foretold to be the child of promise and blessing.
            1. Sent away to find a wife from among the family.
               1. Promised to return to the land.
               2. Receives the Abrahamic Covenant.
               3. Returns to the land and sets up in Bethel (“house of God”).
            2. Four wives - troubled family.
               1. Brothers sell Joseph into slavery. Judah suggests murdering him.
            3. Jacob’s is a life of struggle
               1. Heal catcher.
               2. Struggles with his brother for the birthright and lies to his father for the blessing.
               3. Rolls the stone away from the well in pursuit of Rachel.
               4. Ends up with Leah and struggles to get the woman he loves.
               5. Wrestles with the Lord.
            4. Judah and Tamar. Tamar without child tricks Judah (father-in-law) to sleep with her.
               1. She has twins. Perez struggles past Zerah to be firstborn.
      4. Joseph rises to the position of second to Pharoah.
         1. Brings family out of the land to Egypt.
         2. Promised to return.
         3. Younger son Ephraim is blessed above older son Manasseh.
         4. Judah (planned to murder Joseph) pledges his life to his father Jacob for Joseph’s safety. Pledges his life to Joseph for Benjamin’s safety.
         5. Joseph brings peace and prosperity to the family but they’re not at home (promised land).
   7. Genesis begins with the Holy Spirit moving across the void expanse and the world is brought to light and life and filled with life. Genesis ends with a mummy in a coffin.
      1. Genesis is the strong foundation of the house that God builds.
      2. Exodus begins with births - renewed hope and going home.
5. 2TH 2:14 It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
   1. The Lord restored the family - royal family of God (EPH 2:19-22). A family of priests (1PE 2:1-12). Christ is the Head and the High Priest.
   2. The Lord restored the home - home is wherever the family of God lives in love, blessing, and peace. He is the builder (HEB 3:1-6), the foundation (1CO 3:11), the cornerstone (EPH 2:20).
   3. Ultimately, the family and the home are in heaven and will live forever in the new heavens and new earth in the New Jerusalem (EPH 2:5-6; Php 3:20). Christ is the light of all of it (REV 22:5).
   4. Now, in time, we are to be like Him.
      1. Faith increasing (He lived by faith during the incarnation).
      2. Love to all (He loved all and love His own until the end).
6. Application.
   1. Why should I strive to be a part of a church (Rom 12)?
   2. Keep my marriage together (EPH 5:22-33)?
   3. Be a divinely good husband, wife, parent, friend, servant (EPH 5:22-6:9)?
   4. God made us in His image and we were made for family and home. Without them we are in exile, lost, and living in darkness and death.
   5. As a culture, we are more isolated today than we have ever been. Living for self is not how God designed us and we fall apart when we live for ourselves. 
   6. Increase your faith in the life of Christ - the life that is the light of the world.
   7. Reach out in love despite how much your own flesh or others tell you not to.
   8. We are still fallen sinners. We may do everything right and still we will find trouble (EPH 4:32). Love is the perfect bond of unity (COL 3:14). It covers a multitude of sins (1PE 4:8). Love puts others first (1CO 13:5; Php 2:3). Love forgives and gives his life for his friends (JOH 15:13).
   1. Find your place in the family and home that Christ has given to the church by His incredible sacrifice. In other words, be what God has always chosen you to be. God is and we must be like Him.