Title: Principle of the Normal Assumption
Contents
Acts 18:24-28 The principle of a normal family
An octopus bachelor living in the sea went looking for a bride. One day, I met a slender girl. I met the anchovy lady. I liked it so much that I proposed it. The octopus bachelor was so tenaciously proposing to marry, so the anchovy girl told her parents. "Father, mother! The happy-looking octopus bachelor loves me so much. Please allow me to marry you."
When the anchovy parents heard this, they were startled and jumped and said like a thunderbolt. "Our anchovy family is still a family with a skeleton. But I cannot marry you into a family without a skeleton like an octopus." Anchovy was so determined that he gave up his marriage to the octopus bachelor. The octopus admitted that it was a house without a skeleton and proposed to the ugly shrimp girl with a bent back in a sense of inferiority.
But this time, it was rejected again. Shrimp's parents have sent this letter to the octopus bachelor's family. "My family is a noble family. I have a beard. But I can't marry a commoner who doesn't have a beard." It's a funny thing to say, but marriage seems easy, but it can be difficult in its own way.
Ladies and gentlemen, what is the first institution God created after creating the heavens and the earth? Did God establish the church first? Did you build a hospital first? Did the government make it? Did you make it from school? no. Made from home. The first institution that God created in the Garden of Eden was the family. He directly matched Adam and Eve, performed the wedding ceremony himself, and created the family by hand.
However, assumptions that should be normal are becoming abnormal. There are more abnormal families than normal ones. The country with the highest divorce rate in the world is the United States. However, the divorce rate in the United States is falling sharply. There is a reason. Because they don't want to get married at all.
In other words, more and more families are living together without getting married. If you do not like living together, you do not divorce, but if you break up, the divorce rate is decreasing. Statistics show that the number of people living together and then breaking up is 10 times higher than those who live together and then divorce. That is why in developed countries, <jewelers that rent wedding rings> are successful. The idea is that you borrow jewelry with the intention of divorce, and you borrow it without buying a wedding gift because you can bring it back to you when you divorce.
A family scholar pinched our country. "The number of good homes is increasing, but the number of good homes is decreasing." Today, we live in an age of destruction of homes. Numerous assumptions are flowing into abnormalities. But there is one very normal and exemplary assumption in the Bible. The family of Priscilla and Aquila. Aquila, a Jew, is the husband, and Priscilla, a Gentile, is the wife. Paul made four trips to Asia to evangelize.
Paul met Priscilla and Aquila on his second evangelistic journey. Paul's occupation was a tentmaker. It was at this time that Paul met Priscilla and Aquila, a couple with the same profession. This family presents us with a model of a healthy family, a normal family. A normal and healthy home demonstrates the following four principles:
1. The principle of cohabitation
The story of Priscilla and Aquila appears all five times in the Bible. “Greetings Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 16:3) “The churches of Asia greet you, and Aquila and Prisca and the church in their house earnestly pray to you in the Lord. Greet” (1 Corinthians 16:19) “Greetings Prisca, Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus” (2 Timothy 4:19). The fact is that Priscilla and Aquila are always together. Like needle and thread, like the New Testament and the Old Testament, they are always attached. It never comes off.
Since ancient times, it has been said that a person who has a good marriage relationship is good. Geum (琴) means geomungo. Seul (瑟) means pipa. It is said that the best sound comes out when the lyre and the pipa are played together well. Its harmony is mysterious. Therefore, when a couple gets along well, a mysterious sound like a lyre and a pipa is produced. In the oldest poetry collection in China, Xiqing, the phrase “getting along well with your wife is like saying goodbye” comes from the saying that they are a good couple.
Priscilla and Aquila were a good couple. Family members should always live together. Even if we live apart because of unavoidable events, our hearts must stay together. Jews are a strong family. Whenever family members gather to have a meal, they also prepare meals for family members who have gone out or are away. I always put my knife and fork on the table and pray for him. Living apart is a problem.
As such, when a normal adult man and woman live apart, it is natural for them to feel lonely in a foreign land unless they are gods who have transcended the world, and it is undeniable that they are prone to this kind of test. That is why the Bible warns against separation between husband and wife and not to be distracted. Even if we separate for a while to pray, we are told to do it under an agreement and get back together quickly. It is easy for the devil to take a break.
Of course, couples who have lived apart for a long time without problems are truly respectable couples. But a healthy family should always live together like Priscilla and Aquila. When God created a family and a married couple, there is a great principle that God told them to live together. It is a normal assumption if this principle is followed.
2. Character emission principle
In a normal family, people of good faith should be produced. A normal family and a healthy family must be a hotbed for nurturing amazing people who do God's work. The Bible shows us that amazing people were produced through Priscilla and Aquila. Today's text says: “A Jew named Apollos, who was born in Alexandria, came to Ephesus, who was well-educated and mighty in the Scriptures. He learned the way of the Lord early and zealously spoke and taught about Jesus, but only knew the baptism of John. He was in the synagogue. He began to speak boldly, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard it, they took him and explained the way of God in more detail” (Acts 18:24-26).
Apollos was fluent in the Bible. He was a competent person who learned the way of the Lord from an early age and taught it to everyone. Priscilla and Aquila listened to Apollos' lecture. But I know the Bible wonderfully, but I only knew the baptism of John. I did not know the baptism of Jesus with the Holy Spirit. Priscilla and Aquila brought Apollos into their home.
And he opened the Bible in detail. After that, in Acts 19, Apollos led the Ephesus church revival meeting. It is recorded that a wonderful work of the Holy Spirit took place. In other words, Priscilla and Aquila became a family that raised Aquila, a great revival instructor at the time. A good family should produce people of faith through me and our family. I pray that people of faith will be produced through our families in this foreign land.
3. The principle of cooperation
The families of Priscilla and Aquila were working families like God's working people. Paul was a tentmaker. But Priscilla and Aquila had the same job. We worked together in physical work. Then later, we started working together on a spiritual thing. As already mentioned, Priscilla and Aquila first met the apostle Paul in Corinth. However, after that, they never parted, and they lived together for the rest of their lives.
4. God-Centered Principles
If you go to Simbang, there are hanging scrolls that are divided a lot in households. “Jesus Christ is the Head of this home, The unseen Guest at every meal, The silent Listener to every conversation.” .)
This was the family of Priscula and Aquila. According to the Bible, Priscilla and Aquila moved three times. The first move was from Israel to Rome (Acts 18:2) The reason the couple left the mainland and moved to Rome was because of God. In Israel, persecution was so severe that it was impossible to attend church. So I moved to Rome, where there is freedom of religion.
Dogs are obsessed with people and cats are obsessed with places. A person of faith and a family of faith cling to God. Obsessed with God's work. The second director is from Rome to Corinth (Acts 18:2) When Claudius persecuted the church again in Rome, he moved to Corinth. He moved only for the sake of faith, for God.
The third director was the one following Paul. It was the life of a director to follow Paul to establish a church and to spread the gospel wherever he went. Dear brothers and sisters, why did you move to Calgary, Canada? You should be able to say this. "Because of God. Because of God's work." Ladies and gentlemen, God blesses God-centered families even in this foreign land.
Now I want to draw a conclusion. We live in an age where there are too many abnormal families. We live in an era where the number of unhealthy families is increasing. So, how can we become a healthy, normal family? Just like the families of Priscilla and Aquila. What kind of assumption is that? A family that lives according to four principles. 1. Principle of cohabitation 2. Principle of character generation 3. Principle of partnership 4. God-centered principle
Let me tell you a story and I want to end it. A violinist bought a very precious violin. It was a really good violin that is hard to find in the world. While rehearsing for a concert back home, I was too nervous and dropped the violin while handling it. When I picked it up, it was broken. The sad feeling was reported in a small corner of the newspaper. The violin maker contacted the person. "If you bring a violin, I'll fix it." He entrusted the broken violin to the maker. He meticulously fixed the violin well. It sounded more beautiful than before it broke. Likewise, homes can be broken. However, if you bring a broken home to God, the creator of the family, He will transform it into a better one.