Welcome

Ben MarquezDirector of Discipleship

bmarquez@eastminster.org316.737.6383

The Primacy of Discipleship in the Home

The Doctrine of Jurisdiction

God has established distinct institutions and distinct roles within nations, churches, and

families. God has created each of these institutions and roles for His glory and the

advancement of His gospel. Sons and daughters are called by God to glorify Him in a special way by honoring their parents. Pastors are called by God to glorify Him in a special way by preaching the Bible in the local church. Governments are called by God to glorify Him in a special way by

punishing wrongdoers and thereby protecting the citizenry.

Rob Rienow Limited Church: Unlimited Kingdom (p. 61).

Four Foundational Jurisdictions of Scripture

1. Individual

2. Family

3. Church

4. Government

Four Foundational Jurisdictions of Scripture

1. Individual (Matthew 5)

38“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40And if anyone would sue

you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.

Four Foundational Jurisdictions of Scripture

2. Family (Ephesians 5 & 6)

22Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. 24Now as the

church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. 25Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26that he

might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27so that he might present the church to

himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  28In the

same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 1Children, obey

your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),

3“that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” 4Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the

Lord.

Four Foundational Jurisdictions of Scripture

3. Church (Ephesians 4)

11And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until

we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by

human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from

whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in

love.

Four Foundational Jurisdictions of Scripture

4. Government (Romans 13)

1Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that

exist have been instituted by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed,

and those who resist will incur judgment. 3For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have

no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, 4for he is God's

servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the

wrongdoer. 5Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience.

6For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed,

revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Violations of Jurisdiction

God takes jurisdictional violations seriously. When institutions act outside

their God-given authority:

(1)the crisis will not be solved

(2) the institution that is responsible for responding properly to the crisis will be

robbed of motivation, time, and resources, making it more difficult for that institution

to respond in the future.

Rob Rienow Limited Church: Unlimited Kingdom (p. 63).

The Primacy and Importance of the Family

Exodus 202“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3“You shall have no other gods before me. 4You shall not make for yourself a carved image. 7You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. 8Remember the Sabbath

day, to keep it holy. 12Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the

LORD your God is giving you. 13You shall not murder.  14You shall not commit adultery. 15You shall not steal.

16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17You shall not covet anything that is your

neighbor's.”

The Primacy and Importance of the Family

Church growth books and manuals flood the market. Surprisingly few address internal growth through the Holy Spirit sovereignly blessing the raising of children

in covenantal truth. Yet, historically, Reformed Christians have acknowledged that their most solid,

genuine church growth has been through the conversion of youth reared in the church. Charles

Spurgeon wrote to Edward Payson Hammond, author of The Conversion of Children, “My conviction is that our converts from among children are among the very best

we have. I should judge them to have been more numerously genuine than any other class, more

constant, and in the long run more solid.”

Joel BeekeBringing the Gospel to Covenant Children

The Primacy of Discipleship in the Home

Deuteronomy 6:1-9, 20-25

The Primacy of Discipleship in the Home

1“Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2that you may fear the LORD

your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your

days may be long. 3Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and

that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with

milk and honey.

The Primacy of Discipleship in the Home

4“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you

lie down, and when you rise. 8You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9You shall write them on the

doorposts of your house and on your gates.

The Primacy of Discipleship in the Home

20“When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and

the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's

slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22And the LORD showed signs and

wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23And he brought us out from there, that he

might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24And the LORD commanded us to

do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we

are this day. 25And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the

LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’

The Primacy of Discipleship in the Home

The instrumentalities of the family are chosen and ordained of God as the most efficient of all means of grace—more truly and efficaciously means of saving grace than all the other ordinances of the church.

Robert L. Dabney, Presbyterian Theologian & Pastor (1820-1898)