The
First Outpost: The Home (Domestic Governance)
Prayer: Lord God, heavenly Father,
we thank You, that by Your grace you have instituted holy matrimony,
in which You keep us from unchastity, and other offenses: We beseech
You to send Your blessing upon every husband and wife, that they may
not provoke each other to anger and strife, but live peaceably
together in love and godliness, receive Your gracious help in all
temptations, and raise their children in accordance with your will.
Grant that we all might walk before You in purity and holiness, put
our trust in You, and lead such lives on earth, that in the world to
come we may have everlasting life, through your beloved Son, Jesus
Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one true God, now and forever. Amen.
Review The First
Article of the Creed and its Meaning, refer to chapter 16
in the Catechism Explanation.
The Household Estate,
or the Family is the first relationship with other people that God
created.
Why did
God establish the Household estate?
Genesis
1:26-31, notice the emphasis on the complete image of God in parallel
with the fact that he made humans as male and female for each other.
As God is the Creator and Ruler of Heaven and Earth, what abilities
and responsibilities did He give to humans that reflect His image?
Genesis
2:4-25 gives us more detail on the specific creation of humans,
notice the emphasis in verses 18, 20, 22-23.
How
is Genesis 1:28 similar to Matthew 28:18-28?
From
these passages describe the purposes God had for marriage.
How did
God establish the Household estate?
In
the same passages just read above consider the following:
What
specific abilities and responsibilities of love did he give to Adam
and Eve?
What
does this say about God's design for the number of people
involved in a single marriage?
What does it say about
God's design regarding the genders of the spouses?
Divorce is very common
today, especially when one or both of the spouses think that marriage
is only good as long as their husband or wife makes him happy. Is
divorce pleasing to God? Does divorce show God's love?
Matthew
5:27-32
Matthew
19:1-10
Read The Table of Duties
Husbands, Wives
Parents, Children
Employees, Employers
The Young
All Christians
Why are Husbands paired with Wives, Parents with
Children, and Employees with Employers?
How are Employees and Employers part of the
Household Estate?
What are the responsibilities of the Household
estate?
The Household Estate embraces the sanctity of
marriage, the way love, forgiveness and redemption is shown through
responsibilities of the husband to his wife (Ephesians 5:25ff) and
children (Ephesians 6:4) through the wife to her husband (Ephesians
5:22) and children (Ephesians 6:4). It embraces living in love and
respect as children of sinful parents (Ephesians 6:1-3). Within each
household love is exercised by teaching of God's Word and external
moral discipline, confessing our sins against each other, forgiving
each other and encouraging each other in Christ's love to care not
only for one another but those that our households and families
affect. The household is governed by the Word of God through husband
to wife, through parents to their children and to any employees or
servants that are attached to the family.
How does the Christian husband show Christ's love
to his wife?
Ephesians 5:25ff
How does the Christian father show Christ's love
to his children?
Ephesians 6:4
How does the Christian wife show Christ's love to
her husband?
Ephesians 5:22
How does the Christian mother show Christ's love
to her children?
Ephesians 6:4
How do Christian children show Christ's love to
their parents?
Ephesians 6:1-3
Consider the Admonition
to Parents and Sponsors from our Rite of Baptism:
Dear Christian friends! Through the washing of
regeneration_____ has become a child of God and joint-heir of
everlasting life with Jesus Christ. As witness to this Sacrament, you
are to assist him/her with Christian love and faithful
prayers. Remind him/her of the heavenly grace of his/her
Baptism. Give spiritual counsel and aid, so that he/she is
brought up in the true knowledge and worship of God. Teach him/her
the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer. Place in
his/her hands the Holy Scriptures, and insure that he/she
is brought to the services of God's house, that he/she is
provided future instruction in the Christian faith, to the end that
he/she may come to the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood,
and thus, abiding in baptismal grace and in communion with the
Church, he/she may lead a godly life to the praise and honor
of Jesus Christ. Is it your honest and sincere intent to do this?
Yes, with the help of God.
God enable you to do this faithful and loving work. By
His grace may He fulfill what we are unable to do.
From the Bible passages above we see that
Scripture teaches:
1) That we should love one another to guard the
chastity of others and the sanctity of the lifelong matrimonial union
between one man and one woman.
2) The responsibilities of the father include
loving his wife and children in Christ to ensure their nurturing and
admonishing to salvation with the Word of God, by being willing to
give his life for his wife rather than have her fall into sin, in
showing this love by providing for the welfare of his wife and
children, and by educating his children so they are given competent
and beneficial members God's Church and of society.
3) The responsibilities of the mother include
loving her children to ensure that they are nurtured and admonished
with the Word of God, loving her husband in Christ as the priest and
shepherd of her family, serving and submitting to her husband out of
reverence for Christ, obedience to her husband as to Christ, and
educating her children so they become competent and beneficial
members God's Church and of society.
4) The responsibilities of the children are to
show the love Christ has for them through obedience to their parents
as to Christ, to make every effort to become wise by the Word of God,
and making every effort to become competent and beneficial members of
society through the teaching of their parents.
5) The housefather and housemother may call upon
others in the case of educating their children, both in the Word of
God, and in becoming competent and beneficial members of society.
Such a call does not mean that the houseparents, and the housefather
in particular, abdicate their authority and responsibilities toward
their children. They retain their authority and responsibilities
before God.
Read The Large Catechism,
Fourth
Commandment paragraphs
103-116
How is honoring Father
and Mother greater love than all the other works a person could
invent for himself or herself?
Issues of Home and
Church will be covered in Study 6.
Issues of Home and
State will be covered in Study 7.
Prayer: Lord
God, heavenly Father, in mercy You have established the Christian
home among us: We beseech You so to rule and direct our hearts, that
we may be good examples to children and those subject to us, and not
offend them by word or deed, but faithfully teach them to love Your
Church and hear Your blessed Word. Give them Your Spirit and grace,
that this seed may bring forth good fruit, so that our homelife may
advance Your glory, honor and praise, our own improvement and
welfare, and give offense to no one; through the same, Your beloved
Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the
Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
