Census Bureau Statistics

U.S. Households Consisting of Nuclear Family:
2021: 17.8%
1970: 40%

Average Age of Woman in First Marriage:
2021: 28.6
1950’s-60’s: 20.4

Average Age of Man in First Marriage:
2021: 30.4

Number of Adults Who Live Alone:
2021: 37+ million
2011: 33 million

Adults Who Have Never Married:
2021: 34%
1950: 23%

Friedreich Engels (w/ Karl Marx): The Communist Manisfesto

Truth: The family is the foundation for all of God’s redemptive plans.

I. THE FAMILY IS THE OLDEST HUMAN INSTITUTION

Genesis 1:1 – “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

Genesis 1:3 – “And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.”

Corresponding Days:
1-4 – Light & Light-bearing Objects
2-5 – Sea/Sky & Fish/Birds
3-6 – Land/Vegetation & Beasts of the Field

Genesis 1:26 – “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Genesis 1:27 – “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

Genesis 1:28-31 – “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’ 29 And God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.’ And it was so.”

Genesis 2:7 – “…then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

“Adam,” Heb. ʾaḏāmāh, “ground”

Genesis 2:18 – “Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

Genesis 2:21-23 – “So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

a. She is his companion

b. She is his helper
Jn. 10:30 – “I and the Father are one.”
Heb. 1:3 – “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature.”

“Helper,” Heb. ʿēzer, “helper”
Ps. 1:1-2
Ex. 18: “Eliezer,” lit. “The God of help”
Deut. 33:7

c. She is fit for the man

Genesis 2:24 – “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

II. THE FAMILY IS THE MOST IMPORTANT HUMAN INSTITUTION

1. The family is the medium through which faith is passed down to the next generation.
Deut. 6:4-9

2. The family is the medium through which the Messiah arrives.
Gal. 4:4

3. The family is the model for the church.
Eph. 2:19
1 Tim. 3:14-15
Rom. 8:15
Eph. 5:23
1 Tim. 3:4-5

TAKEAWAYS

1. Anything that seeks to destroy the nuclear family should be rejected.

2. Family matters regardless of our experience.

COMMUNION

The Bread (Mk 14:22): “And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.”

The Cup (Mk. 14:23-24): “And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.”