All men by divine fiat are social creatures.
What it means to be a human being is found only in the expression of the
interaction of at least two people. Although a person has individuality,
he has his identity only in the light of another person. He actually
comes to know and to understand himself as he see himself reflected in
the lives of other people.
As beholding himself in a mirror, he comes to know himself from what he
sees. The reflections that come back to him from the people with whom he
is interacting is the sole basis for his sense of identity. This fact
alone inseparably ties an individual to the need of others.
Like the musical note that stands alone, the melodious medley of life is
non-existence in the acts of an individual. For an individual to
experience the good life he must enter into a strain or series of
harmonious interaction with others sharing the same moment of time. The
individual makes music only when he is placed in relationships with
others.
Furthermore, changing the particular frequency of an individual musical
note standing alone matters little. Changing the frequency of that
musical note as it stands in relation to other musical notes, however,
can move the sound from harmony to disharmony or from mere noise to the
sound of music. It is the relationship of the notes that makes the
melodious music.
So it is in living life. It matters little if an individual standing
alone changes anything or everything about himself. As he moves in and
out of relationships, however, the essence of life is drastically
altered. The good life (or the bad life) is measured only by the
interaction between individuals.
It is within marriage and family that the connecting links of life have
their greatest potential. All that the Scriptures proclaim, the heavens
and the hells of life, transpire in the interaction of marriage and
family. The ground of being for the germination of all life is marriage
and family
Session 1: Lollipops, Band-Aids, and the Final Solution
The history of Jesus Christ and his early followers is the greatest
story ever told. It is a powerful proclamation of the working of God in
the human experience. It reveals the life of God being manifested in men
who had been taken to the end of themselves for the needs of others. It
is the story of the relationship of love
The history of the early followers, however, also contains the weakness
and the shame of man. It records the dismal destruction of Judas, one of
the original apostles. This most grim story ever told reveals what
happens when man attempts to experience life apart from the divine
influence. Losing sight of the divine light of love, Judas was to
experience the pain and the agony of standing alone.
The saga of Judas, sadly, is a tale that is too often told in the
Scripture. It is the story of Lucifer (Ezekiel 28:11-19), Adam and Eve
(Genesis 3:1-19), and the Children of Israel (Deuteronomy 1:19-46). Paul
warned the believers in Rome (Romans 1:18-32), in Corinth (1 Corinthians
10:1-10), and in Ephesus (Ephesians 4:17-19) of the deadly destruction
that can befall all men as it did Judas. James, also, wrote of the
certain death that comes when one fails to live by the divine influence
of love (James 1:13-16)--when one attempts to live in himself for
himself.
Judas, as with all who have ever failed, did not understand the mystery
of experiencing life, being brought to the end of one’s self for the
needs of others. Failing to experience the life of dying, he experienced
the death of living, using others for the perceived needs of self. In
attempting to produce life in himself by using Jesus, Judas opened
himself to death by his own attempt to live.
Failing to understand the mystery of the relationship of love, he soon
experienced the reality of loneliness which is the reality of hell. The
destruction of Judas, as predicted by David, was "For it is written
in the book of Psalms [Psalms 69:25], Let his habitation be desolate ,
and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take"
(Acts 1:20).
In attempting to use others for his own enhancement, he soon had no place
to call home in which he might live, no friends with whom he might share
his life, and no work where he might experience his life. Once
numbered among those whom "the Lord Jesus went in and out"
(Acts 1:20) experiencing the life of love, Judas ended his life
homeless, friendless, and workless--the reality of hell.
In the course of these 15 sessions on marriage and family, it is the
final solution that will be emphasized. Although there may be a few
lollipops and band-aids sprinkled into the mix, I want to focus upon the
foundations of marriage and family. Whether we understand it or not, all
of the struggles we encounter in our marriages and in our families are
the foundational struggles of life itself.
Fundamental to our struggle to understand the final solution is what the
Scripture calls "repentance unto life." It is an appropriate
place to begin our discussion of marriage and family.
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Schedule