What are we talking about?

My first introduction to the term Two Institutions, was approximately 3 years ago. Now, I'm quite sure the concepts were ingrained in my head since I was a wee little tike, but it wasn't until three years ago that I finally connected the dots. There are only two institutions mandated by God in scripture, the family and the church. Try as hard as you like and you will not find any others.

And that is where the problem begins. We live in a culture that will try and make an institution out of just about anything. Most notably we see this in the area of education. Most all universities are known as "institutions" of higher learning. This may be a topic for another day, but I find it interesting and not a coincidence that one of the original intentions of these "institutions" was to provide training and understanding of the real institutions. Once again we must face the fact that we are moving further and further away from the way it was designed to be.

Beginning in Genesis 1 we see the original institution of the family being mandated. God told Adam and Eve to reproduce themselves. Not spiritual reproduction but physical. Yes it is okay to say it, this is a sexual thing. God told Adam and Eve to have sex and populate the earth. If you are married, this is where you let out a hearty HALLELUJAH!! God told Adam and Eve to make a family. This is the first institution.

But God didn't stop with the reproduction part. The command wasn't go have a bunch of kids and be done with it. There was much more involved. If you look at Deuteronomy 6:4-9 you see that there was to be instruction by the family as well. It must be noted that the family is who God gave the command of instructing the children. In this passage God is telling the nation of Israel through Moses to impress Him (God) on the hearts of their children. It is interesting that the word picture here of impressing is that of whetting the appetite. God's command to His people was that whenever they presented the Word to their children(which was to be a continual thing done all throughout the day) they were to do it in such a way that it left the children craving it all day long. My prayer is that our families may return to that model and that our church's would encourage that style of teaching.

Many will see that and say that was ordained before the church was instituted. You would be right to say that. However, before we throw the baby out with the bath water, let's look and see what the Apostle Paul had to say about the institution of the family in Ephesians 6:4. Here we see Paul affirm what we have already seen in Deut. 6. God's intention is for the family to be the primary institution for Biblical instruction. A couple of notes on key words in this verse. The dictionary.com definition of exasperate is to annoy greatly. Pretty funny definition when we see the context of who Paul is speaking to here. We very rarely want to admit that we as parents annoy our children. I have two small boys and one on the way, and I can tell you without doubt that I cause my sons to melt down every day by annoying them. I will also confess that sometimes I do this on purpose. Either way our children will never allow us to get to the nurture and admonition stage of their spiritual development if we spend all of our time annoying them. We must love and encourage and be willing to admit when we do wrong to our kids. The word for nurture here is the Greek word paideia which literally means training and instruction. The word admonish here is not so much to be seen in terms of rebuking our kids, but it is to be seen as to warn them. Many times we rebuke and punish before we have ever trained and warned. What would our lives be like if God operated on that plan with us?

The point here is that God's design for the family is more than providing for the physical needs of our children. He has called to provide for their spiritual needs as well. And God has called us to be actively participating in that provision, not merely standing by while we watch someone else meet that need. Before we ever address the institution of the church we need to realize what God has called families to. It is more than we ask of them and more than they expect of themselves.