When “Fathers” and “Children” Drift Apart (2/2)
Hey Friends,
Last time we were together, I shared a fresh understanding and appreciation of this scripture of Fathers” and “Children:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”
— Malachi 4:5–6
We saw that the fathers and sons being spoken of here are not biological, but theological. The “fathers” are Moses and the Prophets those who personally received revelation from God. The “sons” are the children of Israel, who were called to live according to that revelation.
God’s warning through Malachi to the people of Israel then, and to us now, is that misalignment with “the fathers” brings serious consequences.
As we saw, Israel as a whole didn’t realign under the ministry of John the Baptist, who was “the Elijah” that Malachi spoke of. Nor did they repent when God sent His only Son. Instead, they beheaded John and crucified Christ.
And just as God promised, judgment came. In 70 AD, through the Roman army, God brought the curse. The temple was destroyed. Their national identity was dismantled. And, as a devastating sign of His departure, another so-called deity was worshipped on the very site where His temple once stood.
What About Us?
It’s easy to read a passage like that and miss its implications for us today. But Paul’s words to the Corinthian house churches still speak:
“Now these things happened to them as examples, and they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”
— 1 Corinthians 10:11
What are the parallels?
It starts with recognising who our “New Testament fathers” are, to whom we, as Christ’s people, are meant to align.
Our New Testament Fathers
In the Old Testament, the fathers were Moses and the Prophets. What set them apart was that they personally received divine revelation from God, once and for all.
In the New Testament, we see two movements.
First, Jesus reveals Himself as the new Moses. He gives new commandments in the Sermon on the Mount and leads people out of spiritual Egypt (the kingdom of darkness) into spiritual Canaan (the kingdom of the beloved Son). He also reveals Himself as the true Prophet. On the Mount of Transfiguration, God the Father speaks to Peter, James, and John—and by extension, to all of us: “This is my Son… Listen to Him!”
So in Jesus, we see the fullness of both Moses and the Prophets.
Second, this same Jesus, the new Lawgiver and Prophet, chooses 12 men (including Paul), personally teaches and trains them, and gives them the Spirit so they can know what He knows and speak on His behalf with authority.
The original apostles are the New Testament fathers.
And when the church ignores, abandons, or deviates from the apostles’ teachings about what the church is and how it should function, we begin to invite decay, confusion, and even judgment.
Destroying the Temple
In Malachi’s day, Israel was offering corrupt sacrifices, treating worship as a hollow routine, breaking marriage covenants, and neglecting the poor—all in direct opposition to the writings of Moses and the Prophets. And in doing so, they were destroying the temple.
Today, when we ignore or abandon the apostles’ teaching, we also destroy the temple.
“If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
— 1 Corinthians 3:17
That verse carries the same chilling weight as the one in Malachi. It’s not talking about annihilation, but about loss, disorder, and corruption.
The Greek word translated “destroy” here means to shrivel, waste, spoil, corrupt, or make useless. It paints a picture of:
- Morally corrupting the church through sensuality and self-indulgence
- Actively deviating from what is good, right, and holy
- Making a mess of God’s house and rendering it ineffective
So we destroy the church not only when our character fails to reflect Christ, but also when we rearrange or ignore the order and design passed down to us by the apostles.
A Call to Return (Fathers and Children)
In every generation, the Spirit of God raises up voices and movements to help the church return to the words and spirit of the apostolic fathers. We know many of these names from church history.
But it’s also true that, in love, God sometimes allows His people to experience small tastes of judgment—what I’d call “miniature curses”—as a wake-up call to realign and repent.
In recent years, we’ve seen well-known global ministries and ministers exposed for sensuality and excess. Could it be that God is allowing this in order to restore the fear of the Lord to His church and call us back to holiness?
“Without holiness, no one will see the Lord.”
In the United States alone, around 42% of pastors are experiencing burnout and have considered leaving full-time ministry. Could this be a signal that our current model of “the pastor” as the one person responsible for the life and health of a congregation isn’t what the apostles envisioned?
The New Testament view of a pastor is a group of gifted men and women who teach and care for God’s people from among them, not over them. It’s a function, not a title. And it carries no hierarchy.
In the last 25 years, we’ve witnessed what’s being called the Great Dechurching. Millions have left the church. Across Europe and the U.S., church buildings are being shut down, abandoned, or even turned into nightclubs. It echoes that haunting image of the temple of Jupiter being built on the ruins of God’s house.
Many people feel disconnected. They walk away because what they hear and experience in church doesn’t seem to touch real life. There’s a lack of relevance and relational engagement.
Could it be that God is nudging us to reimagine how we gather?
Maybe the traditional model of sitting quietly while one person speaks for 30–45 minutes isn’t the whole picture. That kind of preaching may still have its place, but it wasn’t the original pattern.
The apostolic vision for church meetings was participatory and open. Everyone had something to contribute. People could raise questions, bring up issues, share encouragement, and seek wisdom together. In that setting, God’s Word was alive, timely, and responsive to the real needs of the people—because the people were free to speak. ( 1 Corinthians 14)
The Lord’s Mercy
I truly believe that many of the things we grieve about in the church today are actually acts of mercy. God is lovingly calling us back into Alignment with the fathers, so that we will not be struck.
Let us bow before the Lord of the temple in humility and ask Him to realign us to turn our hearts back to the fathers to whom He entrusted the blueprint for His house.
Let’s return to the way that leads to life.
