Agape House Fellowship 愛家

Message for the Week of Jan 18, 2009, Agape House Fellowship

By Pastor Kung-Li

We all welcome blessings, especially to our homes!! You can see this very special Chinese character, pronounced “FU”, which means Blessings. You can see this character everywhere you go during Chinese New Year in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong or where you have Chinese folks because blessings are welcome to everyone. In particular, we love to put this character in BIG and BOLD in front of our homes: doors, walls, even windows to “invite” and “welcome” the blessings to our family, our homes. Yes, indeed, we all need the blessings, especially for our family, our homes, our houses.

God Blessed the very first family

Is this only a ancient tradition passed on for generations by Chinese folks? In fact, this is a concept and practice that well aligns with the bible teaching. The very first blessing can be traced back to the very beginning when God created man and woman. In Genesis Chapter 1, the first book of Bible, verse 28, it recorded “God Blessed them and said to them”. Of course here “them” refers to the first man and women God created in verse 27, “After God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”

It is very interesting that God did not only bless man nor woman alone, He surely blessed the unit (or unity) that consists of man and woman, I can clearly see this is the first family, first home, first house.

Would you like these blessings from God?

“said to them” God’s words were the very source of blessings. It is still true today. Let’s take a look of what God blessed the first family. And we can learn a lot from these words:

“Be fruitful and multiple” A house with God blessings will “bear much fruits” that brings blessings not only to themselves but also overflow to others around them. We are created to be a blessings to others. You can find this blessings repeated again and again in Genesis, to Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, representing the spiritual ancestors we have in Christ.

“fill (replenish) the earth and subdue it”

“Replenish” in Hebrew, in addition to its primitive meaning in “fill”, could mean “ to be fenced”, “accomplish, confirm and consecrate”. “Subdue” in Hebrew also has a very strong meaning which includes “conquer, bring into bondage and subjection, force, keep under”. “earth”, I believe, means that this world we are living in that had fallen since the first creation and became “formless,, empty and darkness was over the surface of the deep” (Genesis 1:2). Evil was still in part of the earth, which in the form of serpent led Adam and Eve astray from God. God created man and woman, a family, to accomplish His will on earth: bring fullness of His power and restore it to its original form of glory.

Now I feel that this blessing has a deeper meaning: not only the house was originally created to fill the earth with their numbers but also serve as a spiritual force to consecrate themselves, fencing off the force of darkness. Moreover, with God’ s blessing, the first house God set up had the power to overcome the force of darkness, and bring it under submission.

Your family has the power over darkness and evil of this world through Jesus Christ

It becomes clearly to me why the same evil, same force of darkness, is still trying to work its best strategy to slow God’s plan: steal, kill and destroy the family, one by one. It is because family has the power, with God’s words and blessings, to overcome the darkness, fence off evil and bring restoration to the earth. “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

First son, Adam and Eve, sinned against God’s words. They ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and lost their blessings. The earth was then, be characterize as “subjected to frustration” and “waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed” (Romans 8:19-20). They fell short of God’s blessings and purpose. But the good news is that we have the second Adam in Jesus Christ, who became flesh like the sons of the first Adam and lived among us. “For as in Adam all die, so in Chris all will be made alive.” (1 Cor 15:22). Through Jesus who shed His precious blood to bring us back to God, we are no longer foreigners and aliens (strangers), but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. (Ephesians 2:19).

Choose Life

"Now, choose life, so you and your children may live" Deuteronomy 30:19. Our family, our house has to make an important decision: choose life. Choose to eat from the fruit of the tree of life, Jesus Christ, so we "20 may love the Lord, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him". We have to make decision in everything we do in our house, our home that will choose life, not sin or compromise that will eventually lead to death. Not just relitgion that helps us to know good from evil but not power to do the good. We have to choose life, daily. This is called a Christian life, a Christian home, a God's house.

By choosing life, may you have this eternal Blessing from heaven in this new Year!!