Will you please turn to 1 Timothy 4? We will read from verses 8 through 10. I will read it first in English, then my brother will repeat it in Chinese.
For bodily exercise is profitable for a little; but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life which now is, and of that which is to come. Faithful is the saying, and worthy of all acceptation. For to this end we labor and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of them that believe.
Will you please turn to Ephesians 5? We will read from Ephesians 5:21 through Ephesians 6:4.
Subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.
Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, being Himself the Saviour of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it; that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word, that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. Even so ought husbands also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his own wife loveth himself: for no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as Christ also the church; because we are members of His body. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great: but I speak in regard of Christ and of the church. Nevertheless do ye also severally love each one his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she fear her husband.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother (which is the first commandment with promise), that it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord.
Let us have a further word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we do want to thank You that we may gather together unto Your name. We pray that Your word will come from above into our very hearts, and may Your Spirit quicken Your word to us, that it may be life unto us and glory unto Yourself. We ask in Your precious name. Amen.
Well, we thank the Lord for gathering us again this morning. The burden within my heart is very simple. It is to see how spiritual exercise will affect our daily life—how, in this life, we may experience the promise of eternal life, and how, in every aspect of our life, we may find that Christ is truly our life.
Yesterday morning, we dealt with the matter of our personal life. Every one of us has his or her personal life. Now, how can we live our personal life as Christians?
As Christians, we should be different from the world. In what way are we different? It is not in external things. We are different from within, because people in this world live by their Adamic life; we Christians live by the life of Christ in us.
The Apostle Paul said, “For me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21). This is the only way for us to live our personal life. Only in this way will we declare the excellencies of Him who called us.
Now this morning, we would like to consider the matter of spiritual exercise and family life. We all have our family. Even if you are single, you still have your family. How are we going to live our family life?
Many books have been written concerning family life, because we find that not only in the world, but even among believers, family seems to be a big problem. But this morning, we would like to go back to the Bible and see what God says to us about family life.
First of all, we find that when God created man, He had family in view. In Genesis 1:27, we read:
And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.
When God created man, man was not simply male; man was male and female. It is in the union of the male and female that we find man. When God created man, He had family in view.
You also remember how, in Genesis 2:18, it says, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helpmeet for him.” God made a woman out of man, and He led the woman to the man.
And the man said:
This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
The two were united into one. God put them in the Garden of Eden, and they were together. Not only that, God visited them. In the beginning, it was a wonderful picture: how the man would love the woman, how the woman would submit herself to the man, and how together they would fulfill God’s purpose and have communion with God Himself.
But unfortunately, we find that when the woman listened to the enemy of God, sin entered. I have often wondered: Adam and Eve were together; how was it that Eve was by herself? It seems as if she wandered away from Adam.
She was alone before the two trees, and her eyes were attracted by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Somehow, in her heart, she began to desire it. She knew that God had forbidden them to eat of that fruit, yet she was tempted by the serpent, and finally she ate the forbidden fruit.
She not only ate it, but she gave it to her husband to eat. As a matter of fact, Adam knew very well that God had forbidden them to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. But because he loved his wife so much, he was afraid that he would be permanently separated from the woman. So he listened to Eve, and he ate that fruit.
Immediately they found themselves naked. When God created the living creatures, they were all well clothed. It was impossible that, when God created man, He did not clothe man. Evidently, before man sinned, they were clothed with glory. They were not conscious of being naked.
But through sin, the glory disappeared, and man and woman became naked. They tried to sew fig leaves together to make aprons. But when God visited them, the weather seemed to change a little. There was wind blowing. If you make your covering with leaves, what will happen to you? You will be as naked as you were before.
They hid themselves among the trees. They dared not see God. But thank God, God was seeking them: “Adam, where art thou?”
Brothers and sisters, notice this. When God asked Adam, “What have you done?” he said, “The woman whom Thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” He was supposed to protect the woman, but now he was separated in spirit from the woman. He put the blame upon the woman.
The woman did the same thing. She said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” Separation came. Sin divided man and woman, and from that time sin has separated the family. That condition continues until today.
So, dear brothers and sisters, family was created by God, and God created family with a purpose. But unfortunately, today people have forgotten God’s purpose. We take family as our own: “This is my family.” Then we live as family members by our fallen Adamic life.
I always wonder: if you want to be an architect, how are you going to become an architect? Of course, today you have to go to school and learn architecture. If you want to be a medical doctor, the same thing happens.
But strangely, we do not have a school to teach us how to be a husband or how to be a wife. I heard that nowadays the Japanese have a school for future wives. It seems as if we are born knowing how to be a husband and how to be a wife. Is that not strange? This is the highest profession, and you do not need to learn it?
How do you do it? You do it by your Adamic, fallen, sinful life. No wonder we find that family today is a failure—not only among unbelievers but, sad to say, even among believers.
I remember a story told of the grandfather of Hudson Taylor. When Hudson Taylor’s grandfather, James Taylor, was a young man, he was a careless young man. He enjoyed the world and loved dancing.
But one day he was to be married. That morning, when he woke up, he suddenly remembered, “This is the day I am going to be married.” What a big thing! What should I do?
So he went to the field and started to pray. He prayed and prayed and prayed. He forgot the time. When he finished his prayer, it was already twelve o’clock. He heard the church bell ringing. That was the time he was to be married, so he hurried back to the church.
This is the only case I know of where there was a bride waiting for the bridegroom. Everybody was wondering, “What happened? Where was the bridegroom?” Then suddenly he appeared, and finally he was married.
That evening, he took his bride to the room. He did a surprising thing. He told his wife, “Let us kneel down and pray.”
His wife was frightened. She said, “I did not know I married a Methodist.”
Thank God, he knew that he had to begin with God in his family. Do you know what happened? For five generations from Hudson Taylor’s family, every generation served the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, do you realize what family is? Family is ordained of God, and God has a purpose for the family.
Today, the unfortunate thing is that we do not know what the real purpose of the family is. Even though we are Christians, we take family as something natural. We think the family is for me.
We do not know that when God created family, it was for Him, not for us. We are only the secondary cause. The primary cause of the family is for God. God created family to fulfill a service unto God.
When God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helpmeet for him,” what was not good? It was not good not only because man was only half and needed the other half to complete him. There was something more.
In the Bible, “good” always refers to God’s will. God created man for a purpose. He put man in the Garden of Eden to guard the garden. God used man, a little lower than the angels, to defeat God’s enemy, the fallen archangel, and to restore all created things back to God.
This is God’s purpose for the family. Adam alone could not do it. He needed a helpmeet to help him fulfill God’s purpose.
What is the real meaning of the family? Today we think of family as our enjoyment. But if you really look into the word of God, you find that family, first of all, is for God to enjoy. It is only in His enjoyment that we enjoy one another.
Today we have forgotten God. Even if we are Christians, we think family is me first and God next. But we need to remember Joshua.
Before Joshua died, he gathered the children of Israel, whom he had led into the Promised Land. There in Joshua 24:15, Joshua told the people that whether they would serve God or not was up to them. But he declared:
As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, this is something that we must do. Today, the reason why even so-called Christian families have failed is because we have twisted the meaning of the family. We put our own interests first instead of God’s interests first.
We need to declare, “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” If we do that, you will find how wonderful our family will be.
God created the universe, and He rules over the universe. So far as God’s government is concerned, there is an order, because our God is a God of order. He rules the universe with order.
When God made families, He also put an order into the family. If that order is followed, then the family is blessed. But if the order is neglected, then you find the family will break up.
In order that we may be restored to the family of God’s heart, we must know what divine order God has put into the family.
Now, if you turn to 1 Corinthians 11:3:
But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.
Whenever you come to government, whenever you want to do something, there is always an order within it. The family is for God. In order to serve God, there is an order that has to be restored.
Here we find that God is the head of Christ. Christ, as the Son of God, was equal with God. But when God wanted to do the work of salvation, how could that work be done?
The Son had to humble Himself and submit Himself to the Father. God the Father had the thought of saving mankind. That was His work. His Son, who was equal with Him, had to empty Himself to become a man.
He had to take upon Himself the form of a bondservant. Having the fashion of a man, He was obedient to the Father even unto death—yes, the death of the cross. You find that in Philippians 2.
Why was this done? Why was it that He who was equal with God became a bondservant unto God? It was because they wanted to complete the work of salvation.
When it comes to God’s work, there is always an order. God is the head of Christ.
When you read the Gospels, you find one thing that marked the life of our Lord Jesus. He said, “I can do nothing of Myself. I do it because I saw My Father do it. I say it because I heard My Father say it.”
Even His timing had to be under God’s timing: “My time has not yet come.” Throughout the life of our Lord Jesus, in order to do the work of redemption, He submitted Himself under God His Father.
His Father was His head, and He was the body. The body carries out the work, but the head gives the command. This was the life of our Lord Jesus, and by that the work of redemption was wonderfully done.
The same thing applies to the family. The family is to do a work. They are to show God, glorify God, and bring in the kingdom of God. In order that work can be done, the divine order of the family has to be recovered.
We find that the enemy is trying to destroy that order, but it is God who wants to establish that order. In order that our family may be restored, first of all, we need to recover that order.
One thing you have to remember: it has nothing to do with life. It has to do with service. When you look at the life of our Lord Jesus, His life was the same as the life of the Father. Even when He was on earth, He was still the Son of God. His life was the same as the Father’s.
He said, “My Father and I are one” (John 10:30). It is not because the life of Christ is smaller than the life of God. They share equally with one another, because all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him bodily. It is not a matter of life; it is a matter of work and service.
Today there is a misunderstanding. We think that if we want to maintain that order, then it seems as if we make the woman inferior. Today, you find the matter of women’s rights everywhere.
Brothers and sisters, do you realize that if you really watch the spiritual life among God’s people, most women are more spiritual than men? It is not a matter of life. It is a matter of service.
There needs to be working together. You cannot do a work with two heads. If you want to do a work, one must be the head and the other must be the body. That is divine order.
So, dear sisters, do not think that this makes you inferior. Thank God, the life He gave to us is equal. But in order to do the work of God, we must cooperate.
Now, how can we maintain that order? I think there is a secret there. If you return to Ephesians 5:21, it says:
Subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.
When the Bible was first written, it did not have chapters and verses. It just ran through. Chapters, verses, and sections were added by men.
When you read Ephesians 5:21, “Subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ,” and then verse 22, “Wives, be in subjection unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord,” I feel that verse 21 should begin the section of verse 22. Before that, it is all concerning personal life; then it goes on to family life.
When you read Colossians 3, you find there is no such verse between personal life and family life. To me, this verse is the key to family life.
How can the divine order be recovered in the family? Naturally speaking, we all want to be the head. Who wants to be the body? The body is busy all the time, while the head just thinks about it. We all want to be the head. That is natural.
How can we get into this order? It begins with submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.
The fear here is not the fear of a bondslave. The fear here is the fear of not pleasing God. In the Old Testament, people feared God because they were under the law. Now we are under grace. Perfect love casts out fear.
What is the fear here? It is being afraid of displeasing the One whom you love. It is not a fear of punishment.
Brothers and sisters, we all have the fear of Christ Jesus. We fear God. We fear Christ. We are afraid that we may displease Him. We want to do His bidding. Every one of us should have this thought within us.
When we have this thought, then we will learn to submit to one another. I am willing to submit to you, and you are willing to submit to me. When we submit to one another in the fear of Christ, the divine order appears.
The man, in the fear of Christ, realizes his responsibility. He does not want to be the head simply because he wants authority. He does not want to take the responsibility in himself. But it is the Lord’s will, and he does it as unto the Lord.
He does it under the headship of Christ. It is not that he is the head; it is Christ in him as the head. He does it with fear and trembling before the Lord, not to be a despot. It is not for himself; he does it for the sake of Christ.
The same thing is true with the woman. She realizes that, in the fear of Christ, she needs to help her husband in a way of serving God. When they cooperate with one another, that family is at peace.
Brothers and sisters, this is the divine order that needs to be restored. When that order is restored, the influence upon the children is tremendous.
You find that the passage speaks not only concerning husband and wife; it also gives admonition concerning parents and children.
It says, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” Think of our Lord Jesus. When He was twelve years old, He was made a son of the law. He stayed behind in Jerusalem because He thought He must be occupied with His Father’s business.
His earthly parents did not know that. They traveled back; usually, at that time, the grown-ups traveled together and the children traveled together. So the parents thought that Jesus must be with the other children.
After a day’s journey, they returned to Jerusalem. On the third day, they found Jesus in the temple. He was asking questions and answering questions as a true Son of the Lord.
His parents said, “Child, do You not know how worried we are?” Jesus said, “Must I not be occupied with My Father’s business?” But see what happened: He followed His earthly parents back because He was still a minor. He obeyed His parents. This is right.
It says, “Honor thy father and mother,” which is the first commandment with a promise: “That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.”
To me, I feel there is a little difference here. Children who are not grown up yet should obey their parents and do what their parents say. But when you are grown up, what should be your attitude toward your parents? You should honor them.
You have your own thoughts now. You have your own family now, and you have to take care of that. But you still need to honor your father and mother. If you do that, there is a promise.
Now, concerning the parents, when I read the Bible, I find something strange. If you read Ephesians 6 and Colossians 3, when it concerns parents, it seems as if the admonition is only to the father. Nothing is mentioned of the mother.
The admonition is to the father:
And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord.
Maybe the father usually demands more of the children. Because of that, he may vex the children, and the children sometimes may give up hope. They may say, “You expect too much from me. It is beyond my capability. I am finished.”
The father can do that. In China, we always say that the father is strict and the mother is loving. So the Bible says, “Do not provoke your children.” You should know the child’s age, know his capacity, and try to help him.
But it is the duty of the father to bring up the children in the discipline and admonition of the Lord. Today, when people hear the word “discipline,” they rebel.
But if the father does not discipline the child, the child is not his son. Discipline is necessary. It is necessary for growth—not only spiritually, but physically as well.
Admonition means two things. On the one hand, it is instruction. On the other hand, it is warning. You not only instruct your children concerning what is right to do; you should also warn them concerning what should not happen.
That is the duty of the parents. Brothers and sisters, if we follow the instruction of the Bible, we will have a family that will truly glorify God.
In Proverbs, it says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).
So, dear brothers and sisters, remember: family is for God, and God is for the family. Finally, I would suggest one practical thing.
In my family, we had family altar every day. Every evening before supper, my father would gather the whole family. He had seven children. He would get us all together in the sitting room.
Then he would read from the Bible, and we would all kneel down while he led us in prayer. This gave me such a deep impression.
In my generation, it seemed as if it was a common thing for families to have family altar. But I am afraid it is no longer so now.
Life today is so busy. It seems as if parents do not see their children, and children do not see their parents. We do not have family altar anymore. But families that pray together stay together.
This is one reason why there is no real family life today. So I really suggest that we should restart the family altar.
Try to find a time when the family can gather together and the father can lead them to the Lord. Read the Bible and pray together. If there are only two of you, do it between yourselves. If you have a bigger family, thank God, do it together.
I believe that if this can be recovered, our family life will be different. But you will notice that all these things need spiritual exercise. They do not come naturally; they come supernaturally.
There needs to be spiritual exercise. Through spiritual exercise, we will find life in the family. We will really come to see that we live in the family with the life of Christ, not merely with our natural life. May the Lord bless you all.
Dear Lord, we do pray that You will reveal to us Your thought about family: that it is not just something outward, but that there needs to be spiritual exercise within us.
By Your grace, may we return to Your order, that Your work may be accomplished and Your glory may be manifested. We ask in Your precious name. Amen.