Abdication

When we think of abdication, our first thought is of someone who renounces their throne. Recently Prince Henry and his wife "withdrew" from the royal connections. Forbes called it a "mini-abdication." That's because Harry wasn't actually in office. But back in 1936, King Edward VIII quit as King of England so that he could marry an American divorcee. That was an abdication. However, there is a second meaning. It also refers to the failure to fulfill or undertake a responsibility or duty. So ... let's talk about abdication.

The Bible has some serious instructions for parents. They're not too hard to find. Israel was firmly instructed, "These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You 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." (Deut 6:6-7) Solomon wrote, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." (Prov 22:6) He also wrote, "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother." (Prov 29:15) According to Scripture (as opposed to modern psychology), "Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him." (Prov 13:24) Interestingly, Hebrews says something similar about God Himself. "For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives." (Heb 12:6) As a balance, Paul tells fathers, "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." (Eph 6:4) There is a lot more. So, there is discipline (which is training or education) and there is chastisement (which is punishment). They are two components of loving parents' task of raising their children in the instruction of the Lord. It is a long-term, ongoing, constant, unending task. And it sure looks like today's parents have abdicated their God-given responsibility. For example, most churches today cannot have children sit through church because they are too disruptive and, "Well, kids will be kids, right?" That's right only if parents have decided to be more of the world's version of friends and less of Scripture's version of parents.

The Bible describes the type of marriage prescribed by God (starting in the Garden -- Gen 2:24) as a picture of the relationship of Christ and the church (Eph 5:31-32). So wives are commanded to "be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord" (Eph 5:22) and husbands are told to "love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her." (Eph 5:25) So, think of it like this. Over here we have Mr. and Mrs. Christian. Will you two be willing to put on a play for us? Oh, good. So, Mrs. Christian, I want you to play the part of the church. How you live, how you act toward your husband, how you respond, how you view him will depict the proper lives, actions, responses, and view of the church toward Christ. And Mr. Christian, you will play the part of Christ. Your treatment of your wife will display Christ's treatment of His bride, the church. You should act toward your wife with the same self-sacrifice, same sacrificial love, same selflessness, same aim of bringing her toward a Christlike life as Christ does the church. As examples of the church's relationship with Christ and Christ's relationship with the church, I would argue that we Christians have largely abdicated our God-given responsibilities toward each other in preference to self-centered satisfaction. Or, turn that around for a moment. Perhaps we just believe that the church is supposed to override Christ's commands at will and Christ is an overbearing, selfish bridegroom. No? Could you tell that from the husbands and wives that we are?

It isn't really hard work finding these instructions. Look through the pages of the Bible just for the topic of how we as families are supposed to be and then look at Christian families today. I don't think it is debatable that in large part we have abdicated our family responsibilities as parents and as spouses in favor of the world's version of those roles. And we know what the Bible says about loving the world (1 John 2:15). Christians, instead, are commanded, "Come out from among them and be separate." (2 Cor 6:17) When we say, "No, thank you; we'll do it our way," we are refusing the responsibility God gave us. That's called abdication.