In biblical culture it was typical of sons to follow in the professional of their fathers. Carpenters tended to produces sons for carpentry. Shepherds tended to produce sons for shepherding. And while it’s important to admit that God makes exceptions to this pattern, there is a lot to be said for a culture that reproduces after its own kind.
First, such a culture is an imitation of God’s mandate for creation. It reflects the way in which God keeps this world spinning. Children tend to look and act like their parents, not as a result of genetic processes but because God ordains creation after its own kind.
Dad’s who know how to nail two bits of wood together tend to produce kids who know how to nail two bits of wood together. Those with an aptitude for the health sciences tend to bring forth daughters with an aptitude for the health sciences.
Secondly, in the providence of God, “after its own kind”, is tied to growth and productivity.
It’s no co-incidence that the wealthiest people on earth are those in which the second and third generations inherit and serve in the family business.
The worlds largest forests are created the same way and something powerful happens when raindrops gather together in one place. It is this way because Jesus is this way.
As a young man we find Him in His Father’s House, about His Fathers’ business.
Jesus is like His Father. He is a Builder. And He is establishing a Great House, gathering living stones, chiselled and shaped by Him… to be like Him. And the more He gathers, the bigger His House gets.
We, by nature, are children of wrath – and act like it – because our father was Adam. Consequently, rather than becoming a forest of trees, our individualist and atomised, “do watchya wanna do”culture has the appearance of a poor man’s junk yard.
But, by an act of regeneration, a new birth, we are given a new nature, shaped in the likeness of a new Father.
The evidence of this is that we too are now about our Father’s business.
In our gathering together for worship and service as God’s sons and daughters, we are involved in the family business of discipling a new humanity after a certain kind. The heavenly kind.
The kind that is filling and transforming the earth through quiet, humble obedience to our Heavenly Father in the likeness of His Son.
What do You Want to Read About?
Thank you David. As is often the case…I have read a few things this week and they have had this common thread. Ps:84 was a focus last night in a personal reading, after the evening service. It had indeed been lovely gathering together! 🙏
There is something about getting together. You can cross the world and, if you land in a God-honouring church, you find yourself in good company, among friends and fellow travellers, all seeking to I’ve for Christ, It’s a geat encouragement and a blessing to be with your “own kind”.