We’ve all heard of that illusive “silent witness” that we as Christians are supposed to be exuding everywhere we go. It causes people to line up and ask us, “What do you have that is different? I want some of that.” Then we tell them of Jesus, and conversions are soon to follow. No doubt, testimonies confirm that this phenomenon happens, but for the most part, if we are honest, this scenario is a kind of Christian urban legend that has left many Adventists waiting years for such encounters. In the meantime, guilt creeps in as one wonders why his or her “silent witness” is not loud enough to gain attention.
There is one place, though, where the effectiveness of the “silent witness” appears to have the greatest potential at drawing the world to press its nose against the window in curious admiration—that place is the Christian family. A Christian family that has so completely broken with the current model of two stressed-out, overworked parents, with their neglected, underdisciplined, overstimulated children, will stand out like a neon sign in the night. Parents in harmony with each other, children who cheerfully obey, a light spirit of happiness and contentment—all made possible by God’s principles and presence—has an influence in today’s world that is difficult to match.
Because families are relational units, Christ can shine through them in ways that create a unique witness. The lesson recognizes this potential and upholds the primacy of focusing on the family as the first mission field. It looks at concepts of modeling and imitation as methods of influencing others within and without the family. Finally, it considers hospitality as an influential interface between the Christian family and the world.
Part II: Commentary
Scripture
“And God said to them [the man and woman], ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it’ ” (ESV). Quick quiz: Was the above verse spoken before the Fall or after? The text is Genesis 1:28; so, it was spoken before the Fall. The significance of the timing is that God’s divine idea of family was planted in Eden. Though Eden is no longer home, when we participate in family we are connecting with an Edenic institution that has a way of calling us back to that Paradise. The family still retains the echoes of Eden’s glory. These echoes reverberate with God’s kingdom and are harbingers of a new Eden more glorious than the first (Rev. 21:1, 22:2). This power is one reason godly families can have an almost mysterious draw on unbelievers. It may be the only glimpse of heaven they’ve seen.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27, ESV). Together the man and woman, bonded in family, can display the relational dimensions of what God looks like. Thus, it becomes imperative that families make their own family a priority. Families bear the image of God. This potential invests them with sacred and incalculable value. There is no church program or outside responsibility that should interfere with the personal investment it takes to maintain a healthy and happy family. How many accounts must be shared from adults who gave all their time to church work only to lose to the world their own children, who testify of being neglected?
But someone might respond that family sacrifices are necessary for evangelism and the saving of souls. To implode that illusion forever, take note of the following account. Lee Venden tells of a conversation he had several years ago with a church leader who was, at the time, assistant to the president of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
“We were talking about an extensive NAD survey taken in North America, the results of which left one feeling as though they had the wind knocked out of them. Probably the most startling revelation was that if, since the inception of the church, the ONLY growth in NAD membership had been biological, and if we had simply retained 80 percent of our own youth, the membership in North America at the time of that conversation would have exceeded 8 million” (excerpted from personal email correspondence with Lee Venden). Given that the current NAD membership is 1.24 million as of 2017, you can see how staggering this statistic is. That would equate to a more than 600 percent increase in NAD membership today.
In summary, given that love is both a core definition of God (1 John 4:8) and a relational term, it is understandable why humans in relationship have an advantage in displaying the image of God. A family originated before sin therefore could serve as a microcosm of Paradise past. In addition, when God’s intentions are made a priority in family life, it can be a soul-saving influence in this world. Family life is incalculably valuable in these respects. But how can the world come in contact with these miniglimpses of heaven on earth? Answer: hospitality.
Hospitality
What is hospitality? Dictionaries will say it is the friendly reception of guests or strangers. Providing guests with food, rest, and fellowship is certainly a virtue practiced across the board and should be no less so in Christian populations. However, for Christians, there is an ever-abiding concern for people’s souls, as well as for their physical needs. This concern will add nuance to the meaning and practice of hospitality in a Christian context.
First, the question arises: “Which guests or strangers are to receive a friendly reception?” This query sounds reminiscent of the question asked of Jesus: “ ‘Who is my neighbor?’ ” (Luke 10:29, NKJV). It is helpful to make the connection between the two because Jesus’ answer in the parable of the good Samaritan is an appropriate, though hard-to-swallow, twist on hospitality. The twist is that Jesus turns the question on its head. He prefers to morph the question from “What kind of person should you receive?” to “What kind of person are you going to be?” Along ministry lines and the above starting point that Jesus provides, Thursday of this week’s lesson says, “Using one’s home for ministry may range from simply inviting neighbors to a meal to the radical hospitality of lending a room to an abuse victim.”
Zacchaeus is a case in point—a white-collar thief who receives the unexpected honor of Jesus (the famous prophet and rabbi) coming to his house for lunch (Luke 19:5). And what follows? Transformation, restoration, and “salvation” (Luke 19:8, 9)—no sermon, no Bible study, only a gesture of hospitality. (Note: This example is a kind of reverse hospitality, because Jesus invited Himself to Zacchaeus’s house; but the principle holds because Jesus showed favor to a man whom society deemed a social outcast.)
When hospitality becomes an expression of God’s grace to those who are outcasts, it has been reconstructed from standard cultural practice (i.e., “even the Gentiles do the same” [see Matt. 5:47, ESV]) to a moment with potential eternal significance. As the title of this week’s lesson asks: “What have they seen in your house?” Well, nothing, if we haven’t invited anyone. But if we have, the invitation itself can be like God’s gracious call to all, regardless of their past or present condition. And if they see within the home a vibrant, otherworldly love shared between the family in the name of Christ, it may be enough to create in them an insatiable appetite for a new life and a new world.
Part III: Life Application
Many societies seem to invest high importance on education, career, upward mobility, rank, wealth, and perhaps even community service. Cultivating healthy families is rarely near the top of the priority list. Sacrificing any of the top priorities for the sake of better quality time with family is almost unheard-of. As a result, the house may look good on the outside, but don’t peer too closely inside, because the family may be in shambles. This state is to be avoided. The eternal lives of children and spouses are at stake, not to mention the surrounding community members who are watching and talking about the family in view. Here are some questions that can start the discussion of making family a priority for the sake of God’s kingdom (and everyone’s happiness).
At the end of Thursday in lesson 2, the profound question was asked, “How many people, at the end of their lives, wished they had spent more time in the office and less time with their family?” What can be done right now to avoid this circumstance from becoming the unfortunate testimony (office versus family) of your retirement years?
Radical hospitality can involve safety concerns for the family. What kind of preparations could be made in such a situation?
Hospitality can be expressed by the local church, as well as by the home. How might a church become known in its community for hospitality?
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We’ve all heard of that illusive “silent witness” that we as Christians are supposed to be exuding everywhere we go. It causes people to line up and ask us, “What do you have that is different? I want some of that.” Then we tell them of Jesus, and conversions are soon to follow. No doubt, testimonies confirm that this phenomenon happens, but for the most part, if we are honest, this scenario is a kind of Christian urban legend that has left many Adventists waiting years for such encounters. In the meantime, guilt creeps in as one wonders why his or her “silent witness” is not loud enough to gain attention.
There is one place, though, where the effectiveness of the “silent witness” appears to have the greatest potential at drawing the world to press its nose against the window in curious admiration—that place is the Christian family. A Christian family that has so completely broken with the current model of two stressed-out, overworked parents, with their neglected, underdisciplined, overstimulated children, will stand out like a neon sign in the night. Parents in harmony with each other, children who cheerfully obey, a light spirit of happiness and contentment—all made possible by God’s principles and presence—has an influence in today’s world that is difficult to match.
Because families are relational units, Christ can shine through them in ways that create a unique witness. The lesson recognizes this potential and upholds the primacy of focusing on the family as the first mission field. It looks at concepts of modeling and imitation as methods of influencing others within and without the family. Finally, it considers hospitality as an influential interface between the Christian family and the world.
Part II: Commentary
Scripture
“And God said to them [the man and woman], ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it’ ” (ESV). Quick quiz: Was the above verse spoken before the Fall or after? The text is Genesis 1:28; so, it was spoken before the Fall. The significance of the timing is that God’s divine idea of family was planted in Eden. Though Eden is no longer home, when we participate in family we are connecting with an Edenic institution that has a way of calling us back to that Paradise. The family still retains the echoes of Eden’s glory. These echoes reverberate with God’s kingdom and are harbingers of a new Eden more glorious than the first (Rev. 21:1, 22:2). This power is one reason godly families can have an almost mysterious draw on unbelievers. It may be the only glimpse of heaven they’ve seen.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27, ESV). Together the man and woman, bonded in family, can display the relational dimensions of what God looks like. Thus, it becomes imperative that families make their own family a priority. Families bear the image of God. This potential invests them with sacred and incalculable value. There is no church program or outside responsibility that should interfere with the personal investment it takes to maintain a healthy and happy family. How many accounts must be shared from adults who gave all their time to church work only to lose to the world their own children, who testify of being neglected?
But someone might respond that family sacrifices are necessary for evangelism and the saving of souls. To implode that illusion forever, take note of the following account. Lee Venden tells of a conversation he had several years ago with a church leader who was, at the time, assistant to the president of the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.
“We were talking about an extensive NAD survey taken in North America, the results of which left one feeling as though they had the wind knocked out of them. Probably the most startling revelation was that if, since the inception of the church, the ONLY growth in NAD membership had been biological, and if we had simply retained 80 percent of our own youth, the membership in North America at the time of that conversation would have exceeded 8 million” (excerpted from personal email correspondence with Lee Venden). Given that the current NAD membership is 1.24 million as of 2017, you can see how staggering this statistic is. That would equate to a more than 600 percent increase in NAD membership today.
In summary, given that love is both a core definition of God (1 John 4:8) and a relational term, it is understandable why humans in relationship have an advantage in displaying the image of God. A family originated before sin therefore could serve as a microcosm of Paradise past. In addition, when God’s intentions are made a priority in family life, it can be a soul-saving influence in this world. Family life is incalculably valuable in these respects. But how can the world come in contact with these miniglimpses of heaven on earth? Answer: hospitality.
Hospitality
What is hospitality? Dictionaries will say it is the friendly reception of guests or strangers. Providing guests with food, rest, and fellowship is certainly a virtue practiced across the board and should be no less so in Christian populations. However, for Christians, there is an ever-abiding concern for people’s souls, as well as for their physical needs. This concern will add nuance to the meaning and practice of hospitality in a Christian context.
First, the question arises: “Which guests or strangers are to receive a friendly reception?” This query sounds reminiscent of the question asked of Jesus: “ ‘Who is my neighbor?’ ” (Luke 10:29, NKJV). It is helpful to make the connection between the two because Jesus’ answer in the parable of the good Samaritan is an appropriate, though hard-to-swallow, twist on hospitality. The twist is that Jesus turns the question on its head. He prefers to morph the question from “What kind of person should you receive?” to “What kind of person are you going to be?” Along ministry lines and the above starting point that Jesus provides, Thursday of this week’s lesson says, “Using one’s home for ministry may range from simply inviting neighbors to a meal to the radical hospitality of lending a room to an abuse victim.”
Zacchaeus is a case in point—a white-collar thief who receives the unexpected honor of Jesus (the famous prophet and rabbi) coming to his house for lunch (Luke 19:5). And what follows? Transformation, restoration, and “salvation” (Luke 19:8, 9)—no sermon, no Bible study, only a gesture of hospitality. (Note: This example is a kind of reverse hospitality, because Jesus invited Himself to Zacchaeus’s house; but the principle holds because Jesus showed favor to a man whom society deemed a social outcast.)
When hospitality becomes an expression of God’s grace to those who are outcasts, it has been reconstructed from standard cultural practice (i.e., “even the Gentiles do the same” [see Matt. 5:47, ESV]) to a moment with potential eternal significance. As the title of this week’s lesson asks: “What have they seen in your house?” Well, nothing, if we haven’t invited anyone. But if we have, the invitation itself can be like God’s gracious call to all, regardless of their past or present condition. And if they see within the home a vibrant, otherworldly love shared between the family in the name of Christ, it may be enough to create in them an insatiable appetite for a new life and a new world.
Part III: Life Application
Many societies seem to invest high importance on education, career, upward mobility, rank, wealth, and perhaps even community service. Cultivating healthy families is rarely near the top of the priority list. Sacrificing any of the top priorities for the sake of better quality time with family is almost unheard-of. As a result, the house may look good on the outside, but don’t peer too closely inside, because the family may be in shambles. This state is to be avoided. The eternal lives of children and spouses are at stake, not to mention the surrounding community members who are watching and talking about the family in view. Here are some questions that can start the discussion of making family a priority for the sake of God’s kingdom (and everyone’s happiness).