As the head of the home, the man bares the responsibility for the biblical training of every individual within his home. Yet, many homes today have no man in them. Regardless of society’s disintegration, there is never a time when the man ever relinquishes his accountability to God as the spiritual leader of his home. In today’s passage, we read of Abraham bearing his personal responsibility. According to God’s testimony, Abraham bore that responsibility well. The Lord testified that Abraham would command his children and household after him. Abraham’s family would keep the way of the LORD and would do justice and judgment. Unfortunately, the same cannot be expressed for far too many modern Christian homes. In fact, church pews are overflowing with faithful women while their men are absentee husbands expressing little to no interest in the things of God.
Paul and Barnabas functioned similar to pioneer church planters who travel into unreached areas with the gospel. As they traveled, they faithfully preached the gospel and started churches with the goal of returning later to strengthen the believers. As Paul and Barnabas were planning their return to these areas, a conflict arose between them concerning who would accompany them on their journey. Barnabas desired to take a young man named John Mark, but Paul adamantly refused. Mark had accompanied them on the first trip, but departed from them and “went not with them to the work.” Paul felt as though he could no longer depend upon John Mark because of his earlier failure. The contention was so strong that Paul and Barnabas parted company and went their own separate ways. This is a sad narrative should it end here; however, there is much more to the story. Praise God that Paul later remarked of John Mark that “he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11).
Paul served the Lord in a capacity similar to what missionaries and evangelists do today. He traveled extensively to tell everyone and anyone about Christ’s saving grace. Holding a regular job to earn money would have been impossible due to Paul’s manner of life and recurring travels. However, the Bible tells us that he worked as a tent- maker when the need presented itself (Acts 18:1-3). Most of the time, however, he did not have personal income to provide for himself and the ministry. How would he live during those times? The Bible says that faithful churches provided for his necessities. For example, the church at Philippi served as one such group of believers. Paul refers to a time when he departed from Macedonia. At that time, no church helped him; yet, the believers at Philippi sacrificially provided for his needs. These same believers faithfully helped Paul again in Thessalonica. Paul knew he could depend upon them because they understood the importance of distributing to those who had surrendered to the ministry.
