This morning, we would like to conclude our fellowship on the important subject of the family.
Will you please turn to Joshua Chapter 24, Verse 15? Just the last sentence:
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
That is all we will read this morning.
We have been fellowshipping together on this important subject of the family. First of all, we have seen that the family originated with God, not with man. It is a divine concept, not merely a human idea.
When God created man, He created man as a family: male and female created He them, and He brought them together to be one. It was to this family that God said, “Multiply, fill the earth, and subdue the earth.”
The first family was upon the earth before sin came into this world. What an ideal family! There you find not only the man and the woman loving each other, but they were under God. God came and fellowshipped with them, and they were under God.
But unfortunately, sin entered into this world, and it destroyed family life.
But thank God, in the redemption of our Lord Jesus, you find that He again had a family in view:
Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house.
Now, in order to have a family that is according to God, of course, first of all you have to begin with this matter of mating. Do not be unequally yoked with an unbeliever. It is God’s will that two believers should be joined into one, and then that family will be on the right foundation.
In the Word of God, we are instructed how to be husbands and how to be wives. God instructs husbands to love their wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her. And God instructs wives to submit to their husbands, as unto the Lord.
If both live in the life of Christ, then one will know how to be head, and the other will know how to be the body. In working together, that family will be established.
As the Lord blesses the family with children, you find God again instructing us how to be parents and how to be children. Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is just and pleasing to the Lord. And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, lest they be disheartened; but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.
Now, brothers and sisters, here you see a family under God. Christ is the Head of that family, and the husband represents Christ as head in the family. The wife serves in the family as the body has its place in the family. The children obey their parents, and the parents bring up the children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.
What a beautiful family that will be! How God will be honored.
Now, what is the purpose of our family? Oftentimes we think that the purpose of having a family is that we may enjoy ourselves and find satisfaction in life.
Now, of course, when God gives man a family, He does want us to enjoy ourselves, enjoy one another, and find satisfaction in family life. That is true. But this is not the primary purpose of having a family.
If this were the case, then we would all be on a very selfish basis. The primary purpose of a family is that we may serve God with the family. That is God’s purpose.
If a family does not serve God, the family has lost its primary purpose. So here you find Joshua saying, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
You know, Joshua made this public statement when he was in his advanced age. If you go back to the life of Joshua, you find that when he was a young man, he was chosen by Moses to lead the children of Israel to fight against the Amalekites. That was their first battle.
The children of Israel had come out of Egypt, and while they were in the wilderness, you remember, the Amalekites attacked at the rear. When they were tired and some people lingered behind, Amalek came to attack them. That was their first experience of battle. They had never thought of battle before.
Moses chose a young man, Joshua, to lead the people. He gathered the young men together and fought against the Amalekites. You remember the story: Moses went up to the hill, and as long as his hands were lifted up—that is, as he interceded before God—Joshua overcame the enemy until he defeated them.
That was the first mention in the Bible of Joshua: a young man who fought against the Amalekites. Now, you know, Amalek in Scripture is a type of the flesh. The flesh is like Amalek; it always tries to come upon us when we are weak.
But here was a young man who overcame Amalek. For a young man to overcome Amalek means that he overcomes his flesh. That is something. Most young people give in to the flesh and try to give in to the lusts and desires of the flesh.
But here is a young man who dealt with his flesh, who disciplined himself, and who was able, by the grace of God and through the prayer of Moses, to overcome the flesh. This was Joshua.
Moses chose him to be his helper. You remember when Moses went up to the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, he went up with Joshua. It is true that Moses left Joshua in the middle of the mountain. Joshua did not go to the top of the mountain; Moses went up alone. But Joshua remained on the mountain.
As Moses waited before God forty days and forty nights, where was Joshua? Oftentimes we forget Joshua. We think that it was only Moses who was forty days and forty nights at the top of the mountain, waiting upon God and receiving the Ten Commandments.
But there was another man with him, a young man. Joshua was there on the mountain forty days and forty nights. He was waiting.
When Moses came down and saw the children of Israel sinning against God, he broke the tablets. He moved his tent outside the camp, and this tent of Moses, for the time being, was called the tent of meeting, until the tabernacle was built. The Bible says that Joshua remained at the tent of meeting.
What a young man he was! He was a young man who was very near to God. He remained at the tent of meeting. He had such fellowship and communion with God. No wonder he had the strength to overcome the flesh.
When they came to the border of the promised land, Joshua was one of the twelve spies sent to spy out the land. Only he and Caleb had an excellent spirit.
When they came back, they reported to the people and encouraged them, saying, “We will go in and possess the land as God has promised, because God is with us. These people shall be our food.”
But the ten spies were frightened. They brought an evil report. But Joshua had an excellent spirit. In other words, here you find a young man whose heart was set upon the Lord. He had a beautiful spirit. He served the Lord with all his heart, and he never wavered.
Before Moses died, Joshua was chosen as his successor. It was under Joshua that the children of Israel entered into the promised land.
The Word of God came to Joshua, saying, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. As I was with Moses, I will be with you, and no one can stand before you. Keep the commandments. Meditate upon the Word day and night, and nobody can stand before you.”
In the strength of the Lord, he brought the children of Israel into the promised land. He conquered the enemies, apportioned the land to the twelve tribes, and when he was in his advanced age, he rendered his last service to the children of Israel.
He gathered all the leaders and elders. He gathered all the children of Israel at Shechem, and there he presented God to them. He said, “You may choose. God has done so much for you, but still you can choose whether you want to serve Him or serve other gods. It is up to you.”
“But whatever may be your choice, my choice has already been made: as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
When he was a young man, he served the Lord with all his heart. Then he had a family, and he set such a good example. He lived such a life in the family. He was such a good father. You find that not only he, but his whole family, had been serving the Lord.
His public declaration to the children of Israel was, “As for me and my house”—not only me, but also my house: my wife and my children—“we will all serve the Lord. No matter what your choice may be, we will serve the Lord.”
Dear brothers and sisters, how beautiful! What a testimony that is. This is the purpose for which God gives us families. God raises families for this purpose: that we may serve God as a family.
Not just one member in the family serving God; not just the father and mother serving God; not just the children serving God. Brothers and sisters, we find in many families that perhaps only one member is serving God. The rest of the members are not serving God. They may be saved, but they are not serving God; or they may not be saved at all.
Sometimes we see a husband and wife, the parents, serving the Lord, but the children do not follow. They do not serve. In other families, we find some young people who really love the Lord and serve the Lord, but their parents do not.
But God’s will is that the whole family should serve God. We should serve God as a family: the old and the young, the man and the woman, the parents and the children, the husband and the wife. The whole family should rise up and make the service of God the purpose of their family.
Dear brothers and sisters, what is the purpose of your family? You may have a purpose for yourself, but is there a purpose for your family?
Do you know that God gives you a family for a reason? Have you found out the reason for the family? It is to serve God. It is only through the service of the family that God’s purpose on this earth might be fulfilled.
Let me put it this way. In the beginning, in the Book of Genesis, you find that God created man as a family. Then God blessed that family and said, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue the earth.”
Spiritually speaking, God was entrusting that family with a tremendous mission. God was to use that family to defeat His enemy, to bring in His kingdom, and to bring in His glory. It was all to be done through that family.
When you come to the end of the Bible, what do you find there? You find a family. Truly, through that family, the enemy was defeated, the kingdom of God was brought in, and God was glorified.
What is the family? The church—the family of God. In the beginning, you see the beginning of a family that God not only created but also entrusted with His mission. Eventually, in Christ Jesus, He gained a great family: the family of God, the church of God. It is through that family that God’s purpose is finally realized.
So, brothers and sisters, in view of that, the church of God, the great family of God, is made up of many Christian families. Therefore, every family in the family of God is entrusted with a tremendous work: to serve God and to serve God’s purpose.
First of all, let us be very clear on one point: What is the reason for my family? What is the purpose of my family? If my family is not serving God, we have missed something.
How do we serve God as a family? I think there is a beautiful picture in the Bible. There was a family that served God together as one.
Which family was that? You would be surprised. It was not a family that, from a human standpoint, was very sufficient or prominent. It was a very small family in a small village: the family of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.
Here was a family that, from the human standpoint, had almost nothing. The Bible does not mention the father and mother, so very likely the father and mother died early and left behind two sisters and one brother. They were orphans.
From the human standpoint, how could such an inadequate, insufficient, poor, and destitute family serve God? We think that if we want to serve God, we need to be something; then we can serve God. No.
Here was a family without parents, just two sisters and a brother. They lived in a small village, Bethany. They had no means to live in Jerusalem, the capital. They were somewhere hidden in the village. They were poor; they were not at all prominent.
Yet you find that this was a home to which our Lord Jesus returned again and again during His life. Even in His last week on earth, when He visited Jerusalem for the last time, He went into Jerusalem every day. This was His last effort to reach His people.
Then the Bible says that every night He left Jerusalem. Where did He go? It was a house that He loved to visit, loved to live in, loved to go to: a family. Why? Because that family served Him as a family, not merely as individuals.
You remember in Luke Chapter 10, our Lord Jesus came to that village. Of course, He was welcomed and received by this little family.
There must have been other families in Bethany—more complete families, richer families—but our Lord did not go to any of them. Instead, you find that our Lord Jesus went to this little family because He was received and welcomed.
You remember in John Chapter 1: He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, believing on His name, to them He gave the right to become children of God.
In this world, they rejected the Lord. Yet here was a little family that received the Lord with a whole heart. Therefore, the Lord would go to that family. In a sense, the Lord found His home in that family.
When He entered the family, you know what happened. Martha was busy serving, preparing food for the Lord. You know, it was not a rich family. But even though the food might have been meager, it was prepared with a full heart.
Martha was very busy, trying to prepare as best as she could. Because she wanted to do something more than they usually did, she was so busy that she was distracted. She did not know what to do. She was nervous and impatient because she wanted to do the best for the Lord.
Think of that. Do not blame Martha. She wanted to do the best for the Lord. She wanted to serve the Lord in the best way.
While she was preparing the food, busily occupied, her sister Mary sat at the feet of the Lord and listened to Him.
What is serving the Lord? Serving the Lord includes both of these two things. On the one hand, serving the Lord is to be engaged in doing things for the Lord. That is true.
Serving the Lord does not mean that we are so spiritual that we are no longer practical. No, serving the Lord has its practical side. We need to be engaged in things for the Lord, and we want to do them as best as we can because it is the Lord. It is the Lord.
But on the other hand, serving the Lord means that we sit at His feet and hear Him. Serving the Lord includes these two sides. On the one hand, we need to sit at His feet and hear Him.
Oftentimes people are so much engaged in things—not that these things should not be done, nor that we should let the Lord go hungry. No, these things should be done. But we forget to sit at His feet and hear Him.
How can we serve Him if we do not hear Him first? Service must begin with hearing.
That is the reason why, when the priests in the old days were consecrated, blood was put on their right ear first, and then on the thumb of the right hand and the toe of the right foot. In other words, in serving the Lord, the first thing is to sit at His feet and hear Him.
We need to know His will. We need to wait upon Him to know what He wants and what His will is, and then we rise up and do it. So there are these two sides represented by Martha and Mary.
Do you think that our Lord Jesus rebuked Martha because she was preparing food for Him? Martha was so busy that she was distracted. You see how she came to the Lord. She said, “Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?”
Here you find that this family not only received the Lord with open hearts; as the Lord came into the family, He was immediately made the Master, the Head of that house.
Martha did not call Mary and say, “Mary, you come and help me.” Martha went to the Lord and said, “Lord, dost Thou not care? You are the Head of the family. You see how busy I am. Will You tell my sister to come and help me?”
In other words, they recognized the Lord as the Lord of their family, of their house. That is serving the Lord.
What do you mean by serving the Lord as a family? Serving the Lord as a family means that in that family, the Lord is Lord. He is the Head of the household, and in everything we do, we go and inquire of Him.
This whole family is here to do His will. Whatever His will may be, it is His will that shall be done. We have to come to Him and inquire of Him as to what His will is.
Brothers and sisters, is the Lord the Lord of our family? Whatever we do as a family, do we inquire of Him? Do we ask Him what He wants us to do? Is it all under His direction? We should not simply do things as we like.
When there is a need, we go to the Lord and ask Him how that need should be met. What will He do with us? That is a family that serves God.
Even though the Lord said, “Martha, Martha, thou art troubled about many things; but one thing is needful, and thy sister hath chosen the better portion,” the Lord did not reject her service. The Lord was only telling her, “Do not be distracted in service.”
Then you remember one day, after the Lord had raised up Lazarus. In John Chapter 11, the Bible tells us that the Lord loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. There was such friendship and such a relationship between the Lord and that family.
Every member of the family loved the Lord, and the Lord loved every member of that family. When the Lord was on earth, the greatest miracle He performed was performed in connection with that family.
The deepest truth that He revealed to men was revealed to that family. In that family, He raised up the dead. That was the greatest miracle He performed. The greatest truth that He revealed was revealed to that family: He revealed Himself as the resurrection.
Brothers and sisters, if our families will love the Lord as one, the Lord will manifest Himself to us. The Lord will be able to do many wondrous things with us, and He will be able to teach us and reveal great truth to us.
After Lazarus was raised, there was a feast. We do not know whether that feast was in the little cottage where Martha, Mary, and Lazarus lived, or perhaps in a larger house. But when the Lord was entertained, all three members of the family were there.
Martha, as usual, was busy serving. She was preparing the food. She was trying to do the best to serve the Lord. Martha was there, working with her hands.
Again, we say this is an important part. Do not be so spiritual as to think that it is all in your mind. You have to use your hands. Martha was serving in a practical way. She was cooking the food and preparing the food.
You know, brothers and sisters, when the wife is preparing food for the family, she can serve the Lord by preparing food for her family, or she can simply prepare food for her family and serve her family. It depends on the heart.
You may be engaged in the same thing, but there can be a difference of heaven and earth.
How can the wife serve the Lord? When she takes her place in the family as the body of the family; when she submits herself to her husband as unto the Lord; when she provides and prepares for the family in food and in many other ways, but her heart is unto the Lord.
The Lord says, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.”
When a mother is preparing food for the father and for the children, she is not merely preparing food for the family. As she feeds the family, she is satisfying the Lord. You can serve God in that way, and that is the way to serve God.
So also is the husband. As the husband, constrained by the love of Christ, learns to be the head of the family, provides for the family, and brings up the family in the love of the Lord, he is serving God.
As the children obey their parents in all things, they obey the Lord; they are serving the Lord. Do not think of serving the Lord as something spectacular.
We always think that if we do not go out to the foreign field as missionaries and go as far as we can, then we are not serving the Lord. But you can serve the Lord right in your home—right in your home.
As members of the family love the Lord, take their places in the family, and do the will of God in the family, no matter what their hands touch, it is serving the Lord.
Oh, we need to serve the Lord in such practical ways. But that is only one area. There is another aspect.
The other aspect is Mary. Martha and Mary were temperamentally different, and of course the Lord gave each one a different gift, each one a different type. Mary was not skillful in cooking, but there was a way for her to serve the Lord.
She came with an alabaster flask, a pound of pure nard. Probably it was the savings of her life. As a young lady, and certainly being very poor, this pound of pure nard was something very precious.
According to Judas, who was an economist, it was worth three hundred denarii. One denarius was the wage of a man for a day, and at that time they probably paid women even less.
Here you find Mary able to possess a pound of pure nard worth three hundred days of a man’s wages. For her to accumulate that amount of money was something. It probably was her life savings. Perhaps she was preparing it for her wedding someday.
But she was so constrained by the love of Christ. She took that flask of nard, broke it, poured it upon the feet of the Lord, and used her hair to wipe His feet. The fragrance spread all over the house.
Martha served the Lord by preparing food. Mary served the Lord by pouring out her love. All that she had, she poured upon the Lord without reservation.
This is worship. This is worship.
She saw the worth of our Lord Jesus. How much is the Lord Jesus worth to you? Is He worth a pound of pure nard? Judas said, “No, He is not worth that. That is a waste.” But to Mary, the Lord was worth more than that, though that was all she had.
How much is the Lord in your eyes? The more you see the worthiness of the Lord, the more you are able to pour out, and the more the Lord is worshiped. That is serving the Lord. That is another area of serving the Lord.
Here you find Lazarus. He was sitting with the Lord and enjoying the feast. But was he there merely enjoying himself, sitting by the Lord?
He was there with the Lord as a witness. To witness for the Lord with his life was a very costly thing. Why? Because the Pharisees decided that they would kill Lazarus too, because many came to see Lazarus and believed in the Lord.
We are told by tradition that after Lazarus was raised from the dead, he never opened his mouth. Now, whether that was true or not, we do not know.
We would say that a person raised from the dead would be speaking all the time. He would have lots to tell, right? Oh, his mouth would never be closed.
But we are told by tradition that Lazarus never opened his mouth. They said it was too secret to say something. But his life spoke.
He sat by the Lord, and by simply sitting with the Lord, what a testimony! Many came to see him and believed in the Lord. So the Pharisees decided that they would kill Lazarus too.
Dear brothers and sisters, how do we serve the Lord? We serve the Lord by living a life with the Lord. As we live such a life with the Lord, the world will see and believe in the Lord Jesus.
But it is costly. It may cost you your life. Are we serving the Lord in that respect?
That family—you find Martha serving in one way, Mary in another way, and Lazarus in another way. Put them together, and you see the service of that family.
Now, brothers and sisters, of course, when you apply it to us today, sometimes we have to be Martha, sometimes we have to be Mary, and sometimes we have to be Lazarus. In other words, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus should be manifested in every one of us.
Yet there are times when you find that God gives gifts to different people. Therefore, we serve the Lord with the gift and the grace that He has given to each one.
If we serve well in the family, then our service will be extended to the church, the family of God. There is a definite relationship between service in the church and service in the family.
If you read 1 Timothy, you find that a man who rules, or governs, his household well is able to be an elder in the church. If a person does not govern his house well, how can he govern the church of God, that great family of God? There is a relationship there.
So, dear brothers and sisters, how important it is! As members of a family, God has put us in a family. This is God’s family.
The parents, the children, the husband, and the wife should learn to love the Lord and serve the Lord in the capacities that God may give to each. If everyone learns to serve the Lord in the house, in the family, then you will find that your service will be extended into the church.
When God’s people come together, when all these families come together as the family of God, you find that there is much service there.
There will be practical service, practical working: setting the chairs, welcoming people, witnessing for the Lord, visiting the sick, helping the poor, and being hospitable to strangers and to the saints of the Lord.
There is help in many ways, many practical ways. It begins in the family, and it extends to the church.
Worship begins in the family; it extends to the church. When we come together, we can worship the Lord. We appreciate Him, and when we come together, there is much that we can share with the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, by this the church, as the great family of God, will be established.
Finally, in order to help strengthen the life of the family for service, I believe it is important for a family to have a family altar.
By “family altar,” I do not mean that you should have a literal, physical altar. No, that is the Old Testament. In other words, as a family, there should be a time each day for the whole family to come together to worship the Lord, to read the Word, and to pray.
There may be a few explanations according to the understanding of the children. But you find that the whole family should be brought together every day, at least once every day, all before the Lord.
So that when the children grow up, God is no stranger to them. They are familiar with God. The atmosphere of the love of God is in the family.
Brothers and sisters, if every family will have a family altar, and the family will be together in serving God, you will find that the life of the church will be greatly strengthened, greatly strengthened.
Our heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee. Thou dost raise up families to serve Thee.
Lord, we would like to declare by faith, through Thy grace, that as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Lord, make this a reality. Teach us how to serve Thee in our family, and then learn to serve together in the family of God.
O Lord, we do pray that through Thy church, Thy kingdom shall be brought in and Thou shalt be glorified. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.