When salvation fills your home

Eternal Life for you, Salvation for your family.

When the Bible refers to the aspects of Eternal Life, there is always a reference to the individual, personal experience in the presence and in the future.

Biblically, “eternal life” is both a present possession and a future consummation; it is deeply personal (knowing God through Christ.

John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

However, when it comes to the Salvation, the unit of God’s will is corporate. He aims at your family. Scripture constantly frames salvation corporately.

Every family member must personally repent and believe to be saved. But God’s salvation often moves through families.

God's promises sustain our faith

The foundation of our faith is God's promises. If we stand firm on this, we will be blessed. God's promise is for the salvation of our household.

2 Corinthians 1:20 20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.

Psalms 103:17 But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,

God Aims your households

Genesis 7:1 1 Then the LORD said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.

Noah prepared the ark, which was not for one person, but for an entire family. The Bible says that Noah was righteous, but nowhere does it say the same about his children. Even so, salvation came to his children and daughters-in-law. Deliverance comes to the family through the covenant God made to Christ. And since you are in Christ, that includes you.

Every believer should bring their entire family into the ark. If we believe this, God will honor our faith and save our family. This is not automatic righteousness, but a family rescued under God’s appointed means.

Abraham’s household was also under God’s covenant with him. 

Genesis 17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

“between me and you and your offspring… throughout their generations.” All his household was circumcised, even Abram’s servants. God's covenant with Abraham was extended to his entire household.

Colossians 2:11-12 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

In a sense that speaks of the salvation for your entire generation.

Passover households Each household slaughters the lamb and marks the door; the Lord “will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses.” 

Exodus 12:3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household.

In the context of the period pre-Cannan land, the priesthood was also established for the household.

The LORD said to Aaron, "You and your sons and your father's house with you shall bear your iniquity concerning the sanctuary; you and your sons with you shall bear your iniquity concerning your priesthood." (Num. 18:1)

When God set Aaron apart for the priesthood, He also set apart his entire family.

When we move forward in the Bible story, we come to the Jericho conquest, and we remember one particular story of salvation.

Rahab’s family was also saved. Because Rahab trusts the Lord, her “father and mother, brothers, and all who belong to them” are spared if they shelter under the scarlet sign in her house. Mercy runs along household lines, yet with conditions of response (stay under the sign).

Joshua 6:17 17 And the city and all that is within it shall be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she hid the messengers whom we sent.

Those who are heads of households can seek salvation for their entire family, because this is God's promise. We must hold fast to this principle and appropriate God's blessing. However, even if you are not the head of your household, as was the case with Rahab, you can cling to God for the salvation of your entire household. We need to keep this clear in our minds. It is not just salvation; every blessing from God is for us and our household.

Remember the story of Obed-Edom. 

2 Samuel 6:11 11 And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

I don’t know about you, but I want to enter God’s promises and celebrate and rejoice there with my family.

Deuteronomy 12:7 7 And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.

It is time we began to think about the salvation of entire families and households, and not just individuals. Although salvation is individual, the sphere of God's salvation is the house, not the individual. If we believe in personal salvation, one by one, that is what we will have, but I challenge you to believe in the salvation of families and houses, as the Word of God declares.

The Roman official was saved along with his house after the healing of his son.

John 4:53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.

We need to broaden the scope of our work. The church should be filled not with individuals, but with families.

One of the most beautiful stories in the New Testament is that of Cornelius.

Acts 10:2 2 a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God.

Acts 10:43-44 43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” 

44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.

Acts 11:4 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order:

Acts 11:14-15 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning.

In Acts 16, we have the story of the household of Lydia in Phillipi.

Acts 16:14-15 14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 15 And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

Paul and Silas started a Lifegroup there in Phillipi. In that city, Paul and Silas expelled a demon from a girl, and an uproar began. They were beaten and arrested. There, the fantastic salvation of the Philippian jailer happens. 

Acts 16:25-34 25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

Faith is not individualistic

It seems that, in the early church, God's grace worked in such a way as to reach the entire household. If you follow the book of Acts 18, you will see another family being saved, not only the individual. Perhaps because we live in an extremely individualistic society, we find it difficult to think of salvation in terms of the family as a unit.

It is time to believe that God will save entire families.

Even if we do not fully understand the concept, we must believe and hold on to this promise. If we target households, we will win households. God does things according to our faith.

In Pentecost, when Peter was explaining what was happening, he spoke two foundations for what we are sharing here.

Acts 2:16-17 16 But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel