Purpose of the Church
A real church is one that has the following attributes:
1. It is led by apostles and prophets and has a foundation of divine order and holiness and fear of the Lord.
2. The real church is focused on families and bringing divine order to the families and having fathers mentor sons to become leaders to carry the knowledge of God to the next generation and mothers to train daughters to honor ordained male authority as future wives.
3. Each family is a church in essence because a church involves male leadership and submission of wives to husbands and submission of children to parents with the male head of household implementing leadership for his family as he follows God and fulfills God’s plan on earth.
4. The church is to be a place of separation from the moral defilement of the world’s system. People cannot be pleasing to God and be worldly and carnal at the same time. They must renew their minds to think like God and not allow themselves to drift toward being worldly.
Genesis 18:19 (NASB)
19 “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.”
God specifically chose Abraham because Abraham would command his family to serve the Lord and keep God’s ways. Commanding the children speaks of bringing the knowledge of God to the next generation. This results from having a father mentoring his sons to become godly leaders is to carry the knowledge of God to the next generation. The daughters can be trained to submit to their future husbands and so allow their future husbands to have their place of leadership in the home.
Everything is focused on the family and raising sons to be godly leaders and daughters to be submissive wives so that the following generation can carry on with the knowledge of God and the divine order that comes from living according to biblical principles.
Psalm 78:5-7 (NIV2011)
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children,
6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.
The knowledge of God was meant to be passed onto generation after generation. If every man trains his children in the ways of God and they pass on this knowledge to their children then the potential exists to carry the knowledge of God to all succeeding generations ever born since the time of Abraham.
Ephesians 5:22-24 (NIV)
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Everything is based on submission to God’s divine order. The church is to submit to Christ just as Christ was submitted to the heavenly Father. The wives are also to submit to their own husbands in everything just as if they were submitting to Christ. This submission to God’s divine order brings about peace in the household and whenever this submission is broken it will result in turmoil and strive.
If there is submission of wives to husbands and submission of children to parents then a godly man can follow Christ and his entire family will follow Christ with him under submission to his authority.
Joshua 24:15 (NIV2011)
15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”
Joshua was the leader of his household and his wife and children were living in submission to him. He made it mandatory that his family would serve the Lord because he was acting as the head of his own household. As long as there is submission to God’s ordained authority then one man can follow the Lord and his family will submit to him and follow the Lord also.
Spiritual Blessings for Entire Household
In fact, spiritual blessings can come to an entire household when the head of the household becomes saved.
John 4:53 (NIV2011)
53 Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he and his whole household believed.
This man (a royal official of Capernaum) saw his sick son healed because of the word Jesus spoke to him. When his son was healed this caused this official to believe and his entire household believed with him. Salvation often comes to an entire household when the head of that household becomes a believer. This is because the head of a household has been given spiritual authority over his own family and over the members of his household. When he becomes a believer, this opens the door of salvation for everyone in his household.
Acts 16:29-34 (NASB)
29 And he called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas,
30 and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him together with all who were in his house.
33 And he took them that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household.
34 And he brought them into his house and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, having believed in God with his whole household.
Paul and Silas were thrown into prison and God caused an earthquake and freed them from their chains and all of the prison doors were opened supernaturally! The jailer was so amazed by this move of God that he asked how he could be saved. Paul told him that he if would believe in Jesus that he could be saved together with his entire household. God moves through the heads of households to bring the knowledge of God to the entire family. If the head of the household believes in the Lord then it opens the door for those under his authority to do the same.
Acts 11:13-14 (NIV2011)
13 He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter.
14 He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.’
Cornelius was a God-fearing Roman military officer and God sent and angel to tell Cornelius to send men to Joppa to find Simon Peter who would bring him a message by which he and his entire household would be saved. Whenever a man acts as the head of his own household to become a believer then he has potential to lead his entire household into the knowledge of God. Cornelius was saved (with his entire household) because when the man in authority believes it brings the power of salvation to everyone under his authority. This is a spiritual principle because God moves in families using the head of the household to bring salvation to the entire household!
Acts 18:8 (NASB)
8 Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians when they heard were believing and being baptized.
Crispus was a leader of a synagogue and he came to believe in the Lord together with his entire household. There exists a biblical principle that when the head of a household becomes a believer then it opens the door for his entire household to become saved.
1 Corinthians 11:3 (NASB)
3 But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.
There exists a divine chain-of-command that is instituted by God. In this chain-of-command, God is the head of Christ and Christ is the head of every man and the man is the head of the wife and the parents are head over their children. As long as there is submission to this ordained authority and this chain-of-command is honored then the entire household will serve God as they submit to the head of the household who is also following Christ.
1 Peter 3:5-6 (NASB)
5 For in this way in former times the holy women also, who hoped in God, used to adorn themselves, being submissive to their own husbands;
6 just as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord, and you have become her children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.
Godly women like Sarah obeyed her own husband and as a sign of respect Sarah even called Abraham her lord! By doing this Sarah was acknowledging the divine order of God who placed Abraham as the head of the household. Sarah therefore submitted to her husband Abraham in obedience to God. Doing so was honoring the ordained authority God had place within the household with Abraham as the head of that household.
Colossians 3:20 (NIV)
20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.
The children are also commanded to obey their parents and show submission to the parental authority placed over them by God. In this manner, when a godly man serves God and his wife submits to his leadership and the children obey their parents then the entire family will come under the godly influence of the man who is the head of the home.
Genesis 18:18-19 (NIV)
18 Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
19 For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”
It was God’s plan to choose Abraham and multiply his descendants into a great and powerful nation. This righteous nation would then exert godly influence upon all of the heathen nations on earth. God specifically chose Abraham because Abraham could be trusted to direct his children and his household after him. This means Abraham taught his sons the things of God and mentored them on how to become leaders of their own families. His wife would train the daughters how to become submissive and godly wives and honor the ordained authority of the men as the heads of their own households. If each of the following generations did the same thing with their children (training them in the same way) then the knowledge of God could be passed down to all succeeding generations.
This is similar to the law of seed-time and harvest where the original plants and animals reproduced after their own kind so that the plants and animal life found on earth today were all descended from the first plants and animals created by God in the time of Adam. In the same way, a man has the potential to marry a woman and procreate and teach his children the knowledge of God and this power of procreation has the potential to carry the knowledge of God to all future generations.
This is why it is of vital importance that men learn how to be heads of their own households and women learn to honor male authority and children learn to obey their parents. When this is done then the entire household can be saved and follow the head of the household when he is saved. The family is God’s focus for bringing the knowledge of God and the knowledge of salvation to all succeeding generations on earth! As long as heads of households get saved and they learn how to be spiritual leaders in the home then the knowledge of God and salvation can spread throughout the whole earth!
Separation
Genesis 12:1-3 (NASB)
1 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth from your country, and from your relatives And from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you;
2 And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
Separation to God is key to all of this because if a man and his family follow the ways of the world then they will have lost their separation to God. It is for this reason that God told Abraham to leave his country and separate from his heathen relatives and go to a new land. Here God promised to make Abraham into a great nation and Abraham would become a blessing to all nations on earth and in Abraham all nations on earth would be blessed. God’s promise to Abraham was fulfilled when God sent a Savior of the world who was born of the descendants of Abraham and Sarah who is the Jewish Messiah Yeshua or Jesus.
Genesis 28:10-14 (NIV2011)
10 Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran.
11 When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep.
12 He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
13 There above it stood the LORD, and he said: “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying.
14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
God also spoke to Abraham’s grandson Jacob and reinstituted the covenant He had made with his father and grandfather Abraham and Isaac. God also established his covenant again through the descendants of Jacob who became the twelves tribes of Israel. God promised that the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob would become a blessing to all of the nations of people on earth. This was fulfilled when the Jewish Messiah Yeshua (or Jesus) was born who became the Savior of the world and brought salvation to all humanity.
God spoke to Abraham’s grandson Jacob and said that He would give this land that was promised to Abraham and Isaac and to Jacob and his descendants. God promised to multiply the descendants of Jacob and make them numerous. God promised Jacob that through his descendants all of the families of the earth would be blessed. It was through the Jewish people that God gave His laws through Moses and through the Jewish people God brought the Savior to the world. In this manner, the Jewish race exerted godly influence over all families on the earth.
John 4:22 (NASB)
22 “… for salvation is from the Jews.
Jesus said that salvation is from the Jews because the Jewish people are the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and through this race of people the Savior Jesus Christ was born. It was the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who were led out of Egypt under Moses. These people were given the ordinance of Passover on the night they left Egypt. The Passover has been celebrated by all succeeding generations of Jews since the time of the Exodus until now. This Passover identifies the Jewish people as being the specific descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who were led out of Egypt under the leadership of Moses. It is from these specific people that the Jewish Messiah Yeshua (or Jesus) was born. This is why salvation comes from the Jews who have been given the knowledge of God and from which the Savior of the world was born who is Jesus the Messiah.
It can be seen that God chose one-man Abraham and made a covenant with him and God multiplied him into a family and multiplied that family into a nation of people and through this nation the Savior was born. God has an interest in families because families make up tribes and tribes make up nations. All of the nations of earth are made of family units and God desires to bring godly influence to all families on earth via godly leaders leading their family just as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were godly leaders over their own households.
John 3:16 (NASB)
16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
God loved the entire human population of planet earth and He sent is Son Jesus to provide salvation for all mankind. The world population is made of families so Jesus died for all of the families of people on earth.
Revelation 5:9 (NASB)
9 And they *sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
Jesus purchased men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. These people are all part of families and that is why God said to Abraham and Jacob that through their descendants all families of the earth would be blessed.
Malachi 2:15-16 (NIV)
15 Has not [the LORD] made them one? In flesh and spirit they are his. And why one? Because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth.
16 “I hate divorce,” says the LORD God of Israel, “and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,” says the LORD Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith.
God made man and woman one-person or one-flesh in marriage and He did this because He seeks godly offspring. If a man is the head of his own home, he can exert godly influence over his own family unit and this godly influence can spread to an entire nation if every man is a godly leader over his own household and teaches his children to follow God.
Purpose of the Church
The purpose of the “Church” is to put lives in order and there are many people in dire need of some “divine-order” in their natural lives. When these unbelievers get saved, they need to be taught about how to manage their lives according to the principles of God’s word. Everyone needs God’s divine order for marriage, family, child-raising, finances, home management and every aspect of life on earth. Much of the Jewish culture is based on the laws of God that they received from Moses and these laws cover everything in all aspects of life. Proverbs also contains much natural wisdom for people to order their natural lives on earth.
Example of Divine Principle in Finances
Deuteronomy 22:6-7 (NIV)
6 If you come across a bird’s nest beside the road, either in a tree or on the ground, and the mother is sitting on the young or on the eggs, do not take the mother with the young.
7 You may take the young, but be sure to let the mother go, so that it may go well with you and you may have a long life.
This scripture speaks of finding a mother bird with her young or with her eggs. God’s principle says that the mother bird should be set free and only the eggs or the young may be eaten. If this is done there is a promise that things would go well for the people and they might live a long life. This does not mean that God blesses people with a long life for protecting mother birds but rather this speaks of investment principles to live by.
See the link “Seed for the Future” for more details.
It is the hen that produces more eggs and more chicks for the future, so if the hen survives there will be more eggs and more chickens to eat in the future. If a person saves the hen it will go well for them because they will always have a growing supply of both meat and eggs in the future and so it will go well with them for that reason. If they reserve themselves to eating only rooster meat, then the hens can be saved for production. This principle applies to pigs or cows or any type of livestock because saving the females will insure more production in the future.
If a person eats their last hen then that will be the last meal they will ever eat because they ate something that has the potential to produce more in the future. This is the same thing as eating their seed because if they eat their last seed (and save nothing for planting) then that will be the last meal they will ever eat. But if they save their seed for planting it can be used to produce more grain in the future.
But this principle is not limited to livestock and seed only but it also applies to finances. If a person spends everything that they have they will go broke and it will not go well with him in the future. If they save their money, they can invest it into something that will make more money for them. For a carpenter this may mean buying some tools that allows him to work and make more money. For a businessman it may mean buying a business that allows him to make more money in the future. This principle of saving the hens speaks of saving the seed or saving resources that will produce more for them in the future. Those who do not save will not have a good future when they go broke and are in big financial crisis. This principle can be applied to a native man with some pigs and chickens or to a wealthy businessman living in a high-rise apartment in a big city. Both men will need to follow this biblical principle of saving their seed to produce wealth for them in the future. If they utilize wise financial planning and save seed for investments then things will go well for them and they will have a good hope for their future.
Principle in Health and Safety
Deuteronomy 22:8 (NIV)
8 When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof so that you may not bring the guilt of bloodshed on your house if someone falls from the roof.
This principle is based upon the biblical mandate that all human life is sacred and measures should be taken so that no one is killed by accident or negligence due to unsafe conditions. The principle of the parapet speaks of building a parapet around a roof so that no one will fall down and be hurt or killed. This is a principle of the “parapet” is a principle that underlies all safety rules and regulations that are designed to protect human life.
A parapet is like a rail or fence around a flat roof to keep people from accidentally falling off the roof and being injured or killed. Human life is sacred to God and it should not be lost by negligence or carelessness. This principle also applies to anything that would preserve human life. Health and sanitation laws protect humans from the spread of deadly diseases and toxins from food poisoning. Any type of law that protects the sanctity of human life is based upon this Jewish Torah principle of having safety rules. It is the principles of the Jewish Torah given to Moses by God which is the foundation of all civilized society which has rules to protect the health and safety of its human population.
God’s Word Gives Wisdom
The word of God is filled with principles to teach people how to deal wisely in the affairs of life.
Deuteronomy 4:5-6 (NIV)
5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it.
6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
Moses gave God’s decrees and laws to the people of Israel and they were to follow these laws in the land that God had given them to possess. They were to obey them carefully and in doing so this would show their wisdom and understanding to the nations. Those who follow the principles of God’s word are considered people who are wise and understanding. Unbelievers will make the same observation of those believers who live by the principles of God’s word. Those who are doers of God’s word will do everything in wisdom and have good success in life and have lives reflecting the divine order of God.
Divine Order as a Method to Win the Lost
If a household is run and managed by a godly man according to biblical principles then that household will reflect divine order. If the households of believers reflect the divine order of God then that would be the greatest evangelism tool that they world has ever seen! Having a home in order brings peace and that is part of being a salty-believer. Salt makes people thirst and having divine order and peace in the home is attractive to unbelievers whose lives are generally in disorder. Seeing divine order in the households of believers can make unbelievers thirst for the kingdom of God and cause the unbelievers to ask, “What makes you and your family so different?” This is an open door to share the gospel with those in inquire about the divine order which is evident in the households and personal lives of a family headed by a godly man.
1 Peter 3:1-4 (NASB)
1 In the same way, you wives, be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won without a word by the behavior of their wives,
2 as they observe your chaste and respectful behavior.
3 Your adornment must not be merely external—braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses;
4 but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God.
This scripture actually speaks of how godly women can win unbeliever husbands to the Lord without saying a word to them. This can be done by the godly behavior of their wives who have a gentle and quiet spirit who have learned to be respectful toward their husbands and honor him as the head of the home. That is something that is “salty” in nature because it makes an unbelieving husband thirst for the kingdom of God because he sees the change in his wife and wants to accept the God who was responsible for that change. Other unbelieving men will also want to have the same divine order in their lives and ask how they might be saved. It is having divine order that makes a believer “salty” and this is what causes unbelievers to want to be saved. If a believer’s home is in disorder, then an unbeliever will want nothing to do with their God because he already has enough disorder in his life and does not need anymore.
I know of a family who disciplined their children according to the principles of God’s word. The boys grew up to know about financial management and investments and the girls learned about home management and all their children were all on the honor-roll at their school. This was a great contrast to their neighbors who did not follow these biblical principles and their godless kids were full of vices, using drugs and running in gangs and where dropouts from school. The word of God can bring divine order to the lives of those who apply it to their lives and it is up to the head of the household to lead his family in the knowledge of God and how to apply it to their daily lives.
The Real Church Teaches Divine Order
A real “Church” will teach the principles of God’s word that will cause order and peace and stability to reign in the lives of the families of the congregation. God’s word gives natural practical wisdom to guide them in the affairs of life as well as spiritual wisdom for finishing their race on earth and obtaining eternal life.
Luke 6:47-49 (NIV)
47 I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice.
48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.
49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
Those who sit under the teaching of Fivefold ministry gifts will have a spiritual foundation based on the word of God laid in their lives and they will be able to stand when the storms of life come and strike them. It is the teaching of the principles of God’s word that brings order and peace and prosperity and healing to the lives of families. This is all instituted by the head of the household who leads his family by teaching them how to apply the knowledge of God for living their daily lives on earth in an orderly manner.
Leadership Qualifications for the Church
1 Timothy 3:8-13 (NIV)
8 Deacons, likewise, are to be men worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain.
9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.
10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
11 In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
12 A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well.
13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.
The lowest position of leadership in the church is that of a deacon who is responsible for doing natural tasks in the church. The deacons relieve the apostles and prophets from natural work so they can focus on spiritual things like prayer and ministry of God’s word.
But even the deacon is required to live up to the high standards of God’s word and serve as an example to the rest of the congregation. The main qualification of a deacon is that he knows how to manage his own household well and that his wife is in submission and his children are obedient.
1 Timothy 3:2-6 (NIV)
2 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.
5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)
6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.
The term overseer or bishop or pastor or elder are used interchangeably for one who is leading a congregation of people and providing spiritual oversight for them. But they also have the same high standard to live up to in that the overseer must know how to manage his family well and have his children in obedience with proper respect toward ordained authority in the home. If any man does not know how to manage his own family then he is disqualified from taking care of God’s church.
Also, a leader cannot be a novice or recent convert because those who are immature are those whose households are full of disorder. If a man has disorder in his home and his wife is not submissive to his leadership and his children are not obedient to their parents then such a man is a novice. This would be similar to a toddler wearing diapers standing up and trying to lead others! How can someone who is in need of help themselves (who must be carried around and be bottle fed and have his diapers changed) be able to help others? This is the same thing as a man whose household is in disorder who assumes to be a leader in the church. He is disqualified from all positions of leadership because his immaturity is evident in the disorder that exists in his own household. In fact, a man is not qualified to even sweep the floor in the church of God as a deacon if his own household is in disorder!
The high qualifications for leadership apply to the entire Fivefold ministry of:
1. Apostles
2. Prophets
3. Teachers
4. Pastors
5. Evangelists
If any of the Fivefold ministry (or the deacons doing natural service) have households that are out of order then any such men are disqualified from the ministry.
1 Peter 5:3 (NIV2011)
3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
The reason that all leaders in the church (including deacons) are required to have their households in order is because the leaders are to serve as examples to the flock. They cannot help others with straighten out their disorder when they have disorder in their own homes as well. They have to learn how to overcome and put their households in order before they can instruct others to do the same thing.
It is God’s plan to have every family in the church come into the divine order of God and have that divine order displayed in their individual households. This is the purpose of the church and the purpose of all bible teaching to bring the knowledge of God to heads of households and teach them how to put their households in order according to the divine order of God.
1 Timothy 3:4-5 (NASB)
4 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity
5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),
Again, the qualifications of a spiritual leader are that they must know how to manage their own households well and keep their children under control with all dignity so that their children and wives honor ordained authority in the household. If a man does not know how to manage his own household, he cannot take care of the church of God nor instruct others on how to put their households in order.
1 Timothy 5:8 (NASB)
8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Another aspect of divine order is that a head of household become a provider for his own family. If a man does not provide for his own family the he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. This means every man is to be a provider and earn a living by honest means to feed his family and provide for their needs. A man should also impart trade skills to his own sons so that they have the skills that they need to provide for their own families when they mature and marry themselves.
Jewish fathers were instructed to impart trade skills to their sons so they would have a means of livelihood in adult life. Life is hard and no one will give anything free to their sons so they must be taught how to fend for themselves and they will need trade skills for this purpose. The apostle Paul was raised by a Jewish father who provided him with a trade skill of tent-making. This is accomplished by sending the boy to a tradesman as an apprentice. Whenever Paul was without financial support, he was able to survive by falling back upon this Jewish trade skill of being a tent-maker. It is common sense and practical wisdom for a father to impart as many trade skills as possible and the knowledge of care and use of tools to his son. The more trade skills a boy has the greater his chance of survival (even if he may get a professional degree later in life). Trades skills are synonymous with survival skills for young men.
In know of a godly family in the Philippines whose head of household saw to it that his children had the life skills that they needed to function in adult life. His boys were trained from a young age in money management and investments. They were taught how buy some chickens and save some money from egg production until they could purchase a pig. Then they saved money from the pig production to eventually purchase a cow. So, what happened is that his sons were trained from a young age about saving money for investments. Money saved from a lesser investment like chickens was saved to buy something of greater value like a pig. Then the money saved from raising pigs was saved for investing in something of greater value like a cow. This same process works also for business or investing in trades tools like carpentry tools or a welder etc. So these boys were increasing financially from level to level every year and were self-supporting by the time they left home at age 18.
The daughters of this same household were taught how to manage the home in every aspect. The parents were pastors of a church and when they got home the laundry was washed and dried and ironed and folded and put into the proper place. The food was cooked and the table set and everything in order. Their daughters were trained before they were age-12 to manage the home and by the time, these girls got married they had full knowledge of home management.
The sons were mentored by the father to manage money and make investments and learn trade skills so that they could be good providers for their own families. The girls were taught about home management and honoring male authority so they would be good wives when they were married.
Today both the sons and daughters of this couple have their own families and they carry on the knowledge of God and the divine order of God (which was taught to them by their own parents). Now they are teaching their own children in the same manner that they themselves were trained and disciplined by their own parents to do.
Women Taught to Honor Ordained Authority
Titus 2:4-5 (NASB)
4 so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,
5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
Older mature women are to teach the younger women how to love their husbands and how to love their children. A woman is the foundation of the home and children cannot develop normally without a mother’s love. Every woman is born with a heart full of love which is intended to be given to her children. All humans need a mother’s love to develop normally and a godly mother can give this love to her children and also have great influence upon them to teach them how to love the Lord.
1 Peter 3:7 (NKJV)
7 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.
This scripture speaks of the fact that the wife is an heir together with her husband of the grace of life and all of the blessings of God that come to her husband. The mature women can therefore teach the younger woman how to love and minister to her own husband. A godly wife can edify and inspire her man to greatness and this greatness will bring great prosperity and order to their entire household. The godly wife will share equally in all of the blessings that comes upon her husband because they are joint-heirs together as one-person in God’s sight and are equally blessed by the increase that comes to the head of the home.
Proverbs 14:1 (NASB)
1 The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.
The house referred to in this scripture above is not a natural house made of bricks and lumber. This scripture is speaking of a wise woman who knows how to build up her own husband (who is her spiritual covering). She can love him and edify him and encourage him to have faith in God. Doing his will cause her man to prosper and she will share equally in the prosperity that God gives to her man.
But a foolish woman is one who has not been taught by mature godly women about how to edify her man. A foolish woman will do the exact opposite and instead of building her man up she will say degrading things to him and call him a loser and tear him down with her negative words. This is highly foolish and would be just as stupid as if she crawled up on top of the roof of her own house and tore a hole in the roof with a hammer and crow-bar! If a woman foolishly tears down her man in negative manner then she is tearing down her own spiritual covering! When her man fails and falls down because of her oppression then this same woman will share in all of the failure and poverty and misery that her own husband will suffer. Tearing down her own husband is destroying her own future and is the most foolish thing that any woman could do!
It is important for mothers to train their own daughters how to honor ordained authority in the home so that when these same daughters get married themselves, they will know how to conduct themselves as married women. The mature women should teach the younger women how to love and edify their own husbands so they will be empowered to success. These younger women are to also be taught how to minister love and edification to their own children so that their children will grow up to become secure adults. Foolish women also tear down their own children with negative words can cause insecurities that can follow their children into adult life.
The curse of foolish women speaking negative word to their own husbands and children is something that comes from Satan.
John 10:10 (NKJV)
10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
Satan comes to kill and steal and destroy and work havoc and turmoil in the lives of people. It is Satan who inspires people to abuse others and speak negative and harmful words. Therefore, a foolish woman who tears down her own husband and children is actually an emissary of Satan even without knowing it.
All of this curse of negative words comes from Satan who inspires wicked people to tear down and abuse other people and cause wounds and hurts that can last a lifetime!
Godly women however will reverse the curse and learn how to love and edify their husbands and their children so that the next generation can be stable and secure and operate as normal adults.
Wives Submitting to Husbands
Titus 2:5 (NASB)
5 to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.
When the women are not subject to their own husbands then this bad behavior causes the word of God to be dishonored. No unbelievers would want to be a Christian if they saw the homes of Christians in disorder with the wives fighting their husbands and resisting his leadership in the home.
However, when Christian homes are in order this will cause the unbelievers to thirst for the kingdom of God and they will want to be saved so they can also experience the same divine order of God within their own households. Divine order as found in the Christian home would be the greatest evangelistic tool the world has ever seen because it would cause unbelievers to thirst for the kingdom of God and cause them to want to have the same divine order they see in the lives of the believers. This would cause them to inquire about how to be saved.
Ephesians 5:22-24 (NIV)
22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.
24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
God directs all Christian women to submit to their husbands in everything. This means that there is nothing that is exempted because the man is to be the head of the home over all things. He is to make the decisions as God has created him to be the head of the home. Wives are to submit to their husbands (as to the Lord) because when they submit to their husbands as God commanded them to do then they are submitting to Christ who placed the husband over them as their head. The husband is the head of the wife and this is part of God’s divine order for the home.
1 Timothy 3:15 (NIV)
15 if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
There exists a divine protocol for acceptable behavior in the church and this protocol guides the believers in how they are to conduct themselves in God’s household (which is the church). The qualifications for elder and deacon (and the entire Fivefold ministry) all speak of having their households of these leaders managed well and this includes having submissive wives and obedient children. Those who do not have these things in order are disqualified from ministry in the church.
It is obvious that this is the goal and high standard for all families in the church that they all should come to maturity and have their families in order according to God’s divine order. This is the endeavor and main purpose of the church that believers should receive biblical teaching and learn how to put their households in order according to the divine order of God.