A Family Story

Your life story doesn’t start with you.

When Lisa and I started getting really serious about our relationship, I had not yet met her dad. I’m sure he had a lot of criteria for who would be acceptable to marry his daughter. I do remember a conversation that included a statement such as, “As long as he comes from a good family.” Our family backgrounds are a big part of who we are. As we learned in our pre-marriage counseling about 34 years ago, a marriage isn’t just the joining of two individuals; it’s the joining of two families. The point: The story of your life doesn’t really begin with you, does it? It’s a family story. Your faith story is a family story, too. 

Do you want to persevere? 

You want to make it? Do you want to achieve your destiny–complete the race God has marked out for you? Remember, your story is a family story.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:1

Once while praying I had this thought–maybe a word from the Lord: “To the degree I use you, it has more to do with your grandmother’s prayers than with you.” I believe it! That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. The people of Israel were constantly being reminded of the fact that their God was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

 God doesn’t bless us just because of what we do as individuals. He blesses us because of what those who have come before us have done. God blesses to a thousand generations those who love him, a promise made repeatedly in Scripture. 

Even if you’re a first-generation Christian, you are receiving inherited blessings.

Fortunately, even if our family story is messed up, God has a place for us in his story. Even if your earthly family has not been the blessing to you it should have, you are receiving the inherited blessings of God’s family. You get a fresh start, but it’s not totally from scratch. Our individual story fits into God’s story. God’s story is a family story.

As a family story, it’s not just a religious story. It’s the story of real people, serving God in their generation. That’s one of the reasons you have genealogies, even in the New Testament. 

Do you skip the genealogy passages?

Genealogies–I think they’re boring! I knew a young man who got saved through them, though. “My girlfriend got saved and wouldn’t have sex with me anymore,” he said, “so I started reading the Bible to see what it was about. Then, when I started reading the genealogy [that’s the list of all the generations–who begat who] I suddenly realized, ‘This is about real people! It must be true.'”

As a family story, it’s not just an individualistic story. 

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.  This is what the ancients were commended for. Hebrews 11:1-2.

All these heroes of the faith are from before Christ, but their story includes you!

Since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Hebrews 11:40.

Their story is not complete without us. And our story is not complete without them, including all the heroes of faith that have preceded us. This story didn’t begin with us, and we are better able to live out God’s story when we connect it with these heroes of faith. 

Their story sets us up to follow Jesus!

 We do ourselves a huge favor when we connect our story with the family story. When we attempt to cut these heroes out of our story, we do so to our own hurt! 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 12:1-3.

We have an obligation to our own generation in which we live. We have an obligation to those who will come after us. We also have an obligation to those who came before us: “Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses.” All that follows–even fixing our eyes on Jesus–is connected to the cloud of witnesses, the family story.

What does knowing our story as a family story do for us?

1. Grounds us in our faith.
2. Encourages us in our troubles.
3. Helps us throw off sin.
4. Helps us fix our eyes on Jesus.

1. Grounded Faith

Those who came before us show us what real faith is. That’s the purpose of Hebrews 11 is to show us the kind of faith that God commends. I encourage you to read the entire chapter. Some of them had the kind of faith that produced major miracles. Some of them had the kind of faith that kept them faithful even when a miracle didn’t happen. They had the kind of faith that extends beyond any earthly experience. God commends the kind of faith that gets miracles and the kind of faith that keeps us moving in the absence of miracles. If we cut ourselves off from their story, we cut ourselves off from their faith.

2. Encouragement in Trouble

I enlisted in the Army in February of 1980 but didn’t report for duty until April 29. That gap gave me a lot of time to worry about the decision I had made–after all, it was during a hostage crisis with Iran, when students took over the US embassy and held over 50 hostages. But that wasn’t my only concern. Here I was, a 21-year-old pothead who hadn’t exercised in years, getting ready for the rigors of basic training. I was truly concerned that I wouldn’t make it through. One of my best friend’s dad was full-time with the National Guard, so I talked to him about my fears. His response was this: “You have to remember that lots of people have made it through basic training before you, and you’ll make it, too.” That wise counsel helped me so much. And the writer of Hebrews is doing the same thing here. Hebrew followers of Jesus who were considering giving up were being told: a lot of your ancestors have made it, and so can you. If we cut ourselves off from their story, we cut ourselves off from their endurance. 

3. Throw Off Sin

The victories of those who have come before us give us guidance and hope that we can overcome. I do have a cuathion though. We don’t overcome or throw off sin by redefining sin. We don’t throw off sin by throwing off a biblical definition of sin. Our current generation tends to want to do that, especially when it comes to sexual sin.

The biblical principle of sexual relationships only between one man and one woman within the bond of marriage seems old-fashioned. That’s not just an issue of homosexuality. Christians too often want to focus on one kind of sexual issue, and then excuse others. We redefine all kinds of sexual sin in our day, and closely related to that is the sin of taking life in the womb. That’s an issue about which the church was in agreement for almost 2,000 years. The church was always against taking innocent life. All this is old-fashioned–and it’s part of our family story. It’s not a story to rewrite, either.

The fact that this morality is so old-fashioned, grounded in the real meaning of Scripture, and affirmed by generations of believers for thousands of years should make us reluctant to throw off the definition. The traditions of men are worthless when they contradict God. Jesus made that clear. The core traditions of the Church, however, when grounded in Scripture, should be embraced from generation to generation.

 G. K. Chesterton, in his book Orthodoxy, published in 1908, said this: “Tradition is only democracy extended through time…. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking about. All democrats object to men being disqualified by the accident of birth; tradition objects to their being disqualified by the accident of death. Democracy tells us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our groom [butler]; tradition asks us not to neglect a good man’s opinion, even if he is our father.”

Our generation can’t think of itself as the final arbiter of truth. We should resist efforts to discredit voices from previous generations. Embrace your family story; throw off sin!

4. Fix Your Eyes on Jesus

This is the main point here. Keep our eyes fixed on Jesus. We are blessed by the examples of others. They help us focus on the priorities. We are aware they are looking at us. Help us look to Jesus. God wants you to have the kind of faith “the ancients” were commended for, so don’t neglect to glance back to move forward.

Yours is a family story, but it’s up to you to line up with the family.