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The Role of the Christian Family in Our World Today

Colossians 3:18-21    
¹⁸Wives, be subject to your husbands [subordinate and adapt yourselves to them], as is right and fitting and your proper duty in the Lord.

¹⁹Husbands, love your wives [be affectionate and sympathetic with them] and do not be harsh or bitter or resentful toward them.

 ²⁰Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing to the Lord.

²¹Fathers, do not provoke or irritate or fret your children [do not be hard on them or harass them], lest they become discouraged and sullen and morose and feel inferior and frustrated.  [Do not break their spirit.]

Today, more than ever it is a truth that as the family goes, so goes the church.

As the church goes, so goes the community.

As the community goes, so goes the state.

As the state goes, so goes the nation.

While our secular, godless society continuously attacks the sanctity of marriage and the family, God continues to tell us that the Christian family is the key ingredient to a revived world.

For the family to influence culture in a Godly way, two major behaviors must be activated: selflessness and caring

When we are willing to look beyond ourselves and care deeply for others, our families will be strong in the faith of Jesus Christ.

Caring is the closest identification we have with the cross of Christ in our marriages.

To care means I am with you and for you no matter what the circumstance.

Caring rids us of selfishness.  It means I cherish and appreciate my family and I commit my energies, myself, my time, to their fulfillment.

It is in the caring relationship that we are sustained.

The family is a portrait of community. 

Families are to exemplify the Christian style of relationship.

Will you share and practice this with your family?

What Kind of House are You Building?

From your Bibles, read Luke 6:46-49.

You and I are witnessing perhaps the greatest building boom in the history of the world.

Houses, stadiums, sports complexes, shopping malls, skyscrapers, cities and roads are all being built to accommodate an ever-increasing populace.

Man has always been a builder.  History, as well as the Bible, records the attempts by man to build something that lasts forever such as the tower of Babel, the hanging gardens of Babylon and the palaces of King Herod.

The Bible speaks of Jesus preparing a city called the New Jerusalem – 1500 miles high, 1500 miles wide, & 1500 miles deep.

Scripture tells us in building we should count the costs, build on a solid foundation, use proper materials, build with living stones and build carefully and consistently.

The Bible uses the word “house” as a metaphor for a life or a soul.

In Jude 20, we are told to build up yourselves (founded) on your most holy faith (make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher) praying in the Holy Spirit.

Building our lives is an hourly, daily process. It proceeds with every thought we admit into our mind, with every feeling we cherish in our heart, and with every purpose we form in our soul.

That which we are today is the whole result of all that we have been doing, of all our invisible thoughts, words and deeds up to this present moment.

We are all builders; we are all planning, preparing, laying our foundation, erecting our walls and finishing the cosmetics.

According to this story, you are either a wise master builder or a foolish builder.  You are either building on a sure foundation or building on the earth (sand).

Both men built a house, and perhaps both super structures were sound and beautiful.  The difference is in the foundation.

As in building a building so also in building a life, it is the foundation that matters most.

What is the foundation upon which you are building your life today?  …Your home, your marriage, your career or your business?

In Matthew 7 and Luke 6, we find this story.  Each man records it with a slight difference in words.

Matthew says the wise man built upon a rock.
Luke adds the intensifying line, “he dug deep.”

Architects and builders are guided by a simple rule – in order to build high, you must dig deep.

To build a life without Christ, His Word, His power is to build on sand, earth.

When we are obedient to His precepts, submitted to His authority, devoted to His commands, we are building on a rock.

All of us are building our lives right now for eternity and all of us will live the life we build.

Some are merely building a shop, a business, giving their whole lives to it and their entire strength to make it strong.

Some are building a prison in which, by the power of their own evil deeds – alcoholism, drugs, immorality, perversion – they will suffer eternal imprisonment.

We are called to build and to be a temple of God, a life in which God can dwell and fill with His presence and power.  A temple can only be built upon the Rock which is Jesus Christ – His Word, His blood, His life.  So, what kind of house are you building?  

If you missed this weekend at TheChurch on Strayer 10.17.11

From the beginning of humanity, God intended the family to be the premier institution of life.  Love, faithfulness, and truth are the highest virtues of the human mind.  None is possible without the faithfulness of God. 

To have a faithful family, we must understand that “preparation always precedes production.”

Building a faithful family involves at least three steps:

1.  The pre-requisite of discipleship.

The term implies all that belongs to the completion of a home, a family ─ the idea, the dream, the plan, the construction, the furnishings and most importantly, the filling of the home with the living community. What’s the foundation you have laid for your family?

2.  The process of discipleship.

Teach fitting and sound doctrine which provides right living.  What types of activities and habits are you displaying in your home?  Are you using sound doctrine to teach your family?  Each of us is to be an example of good deeds.  We are to model, show a pattern of Godly living within the home.

3.  The product of discipleship.

The way we live in front of each other should be a deposit of a precious treasure into their lives.  Our lives should be sound, fit, wholesome, above reproach, giving no one an opportunity (a reason) to speak evil of us. As we pass on our “family experience” to our children, we have a sober responsibility to “fully obey what we know as His Truth.”  What we do and teach our children and family will have an everlasting effect on them when they leave the home.

If you missed this past weekend at TheChurch on Strayer…

Past generations were able to maintain hope through difficult times because they had three anchors of stability in all of their societies:

          1) Faith in God
          2) Stability in the family
          3) Pride in one’s country

Without a foundation of Biblical principles, husbands and wives have difficulty understanding each other because the male and female role differences are blurred by our addictive society.

Individuals without God become as god to themselves.  Each determines what is right for himself.  No absolutes.

In order to be a functional family, it must begin in the marriage of the husband and wife.  The marriage must be built on trust, loyalty, monogamy, and commitment. The Ten Commandments also show God’s priority on the foundation of all human relationships – the family.

Here are the ten characteristics of the Functional Family.  Assess these characteristics.  Which do you need to focus on, work on, and develop in your family?  Be assured, when you concentrate on these characteristics and make them a priority in your family, you’ll see a functional family.

1)       Positive─  living in a non-judgmental, encouraging environment.

2)       Caring─ showing concern, kindness for one another

3)       Accepting─ appreciating and celebrating uniqueness and differences

4)        Affirming─ adding value to one another.

5)       Loving─ exhibiting genuineness, intimacy

6)       Nurturing─ helping each other become who God created them to be.

7)       Sharing─ communicating freely and openly.

8)       Becoming─ growing into their role in the family

9)       Laughing─ allowing lighthearted moments of just letting go

10)    Harmonizing─  working individually while being team-oriented.