You and Your Household
We in the church, for quite some time, have been preoccupied with the millennial generation. This isn’t a new thing. We end up doing this with every new generation. Every generation brings a new point of view, both of the church and society. Now it’s happening again with the millennials. We see study after study stating that this generation is leaving the church and not returning. Many churches have tried to make themselves more contemporary or become less harsh on certain sins in order to attract the younger generation, yet if we look within our own churches at the millennials that have remained, as many surveys have, the statistics help to tell us why it is that so many are leaving, a strong, godly focus within the home.
In our scripture this week (Acts 16:25-34) we find Paul and Silas in prison. They have been beaten and chained. Yet as they sit in prison we find them singing praises to God. In the middle of the night, a great earthquake shakes the prison and releases all of the prisoners. The jailer, having seen what has happened, plans to end his own life, for the jailer was responsible for all prisoners in his care. If any of them escaped, his life was forfeit.
However, Paul cries out to him and stops the jailer from carrying out his plans. Immediately the jailer comes to Paul and Silas and asks what it is that he must do to receive salvation. Paul replies, “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household” (Acts 16:31). When I first read this passage, this verse jumped out at me. Was Paul trying to say that because this man believes, his entire household will receive salvation? This would include his wife, his children, his servants, his father and mother and grandparents if they’re still living. No, that’s not what it’s saying, but it is saying the same thing that our surveys and statistics are showing. A family that lives with Christ at the center will be saved.
Reality is, we have great people teaching here are the church. Personally, I think the pastor is one heck of a guy, but if you think he’s great, the Sunday School teachers are even better. But we can have the best Sunday School teachers and the best pastor available, but none of that makes as much difference as what happens within the four walls of your home. We can teach them what the Bible says, we can tell them how important it is, we can live it out in our own lives and be stellar examples, but it means next to nothing if it’s not being reinforced at home. What the studies are finding is the same thing that Paul is talking about here. It has to start at home. Your home needs to be a home where Jesus is not some accessory that complements everything else. He needs to be more than a casual side conversation or a reason why we can’t go do this or that. He needs to be absolutely central to everyday life.
The young adults, the millennials, that have stayed in church, the ones that are stepping up as church leaders, driving ministries and making a difference in God’s Kingdom are the ones whose parents made Jesus more than just someone who we talked to on Sundays and at meal times. Their parents took their own faith seriously as well as the command to raise their children likewise. These young adult church leaders were the kids whose parents punished them and held them accountable. They’re the ones whose parents read the Bible to them every night, and they are kids whose parents were tough but who ultimately operated from a framework of grace that held up the cross of Jesus as the basis for peace with God and forgiveness toward one another.
This isn’t a foolproof formula. Kids from good, Christian homes will choose to walk away from God and kids from broken homes that only spoke Jesus’ name as a curse word will find salvation, but it’s far from a random roll of the dice. Kids who are raised in a household that puts God first will grow up to lead a household that puts God first. As it says in the book of Joshua, “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15)