Happy New Year to you, friend. We are In Search of the Lord's Way. I hope you have gotten your new year started off to a great beginning. We’re beginning the new year with a series of four programs about what is dear to virtually every living person-- the family. Stay tuned.
Say, friend, we’re so happy that you have joined us for Bible study in this first program of 2009. We are In Search of the Lord’s Way to be saved and to live in that saved state, so as to be accepted by the Lord when He comes again. You must surely know that the traditional American family is in serious trouble though. It’s for that reason that all this month we are devoting our studies to, in this program, In Search of the Lord's Way for the family. Today’s message will be titled “The Christian Family.” I thought of calling it “The Happy Family,” and I am giving that title to the little book that we will be publishing containing all the messages this month about the family. You see, the Christian family is a happy family.
If you think you might want a copy of the book when we have completed the series, you may have it free of course simply by mailing your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. Or you may mail it to searchtv@searchtv.org. You may have the book, or you may have the series on CD or audio cassette tape. All of it is free. No, no, no, we’ll not going to add your name to a mailing list and send you a bunch of letters asking you for money. We don’t have such a list and we don’t do that. If you prefer, you may use our toll-free telephone number to make your request-- and we’ll even pay for the call.
Back to this study about the family, though. Whoever we are, wherever we are in life, there’s one thing we all realize we have in common. That one thing is “family.” And we’re in perfect agreement with what Dr. Albert Solnit of the Child Study Center at Yale University said a few years ago, “People cherish the family and they cherish it because of their own experience even when their experience has been less than perfect.” Well, what one of us would say we had or do have at present “a perfect family?” Yet most of us would surely say our family, or the memories we have of our families are important to us. Ken Helterbrand is going to lead us now as we sing praises to God, after which I’ll be back to begin our series.
Today for our Bible reading we are looking at the second chapter of the book of Genesis. Now that is the very beginning of things, and the story of the beginning of things; and we are going to begin reading with the verse 20 and read through verse 24. “So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” That is the story of the beginning of family. Now let’s go to God in prayer. Holy Father, thou who art the creator of heaven and earth and everything in them, we are so thankful to You for this record of the beginning of the most precious relationship that we have in this world-- that of our family. Help us in our study to enhance our appreciation for it. In the lovely name of Jesus, we pray You. Amen!
Whose idea was “family” anyway? Why do you suppose family is such an absolute essential to the completeness of any society? Anywhere on earth we travel, in the least advanced and the most advanced societies in the world-- in atheistic as well as deeply religious societies, people are living together in families. I know; I’ve been there and seen it and I have been impressed with it. Whose idea was the family? In my readings and studies in world history, as far back as we can go, people have lived together in families. Tell me, if you can, whose idea was the family that it should be so universally practiced in the world? My friend, it was God’s idea; I mean the one and only God who “In the beginning” created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1; chapter 2, verses 21-24). And to that union-- the first union, the first family-- there was born Abel and Seth and other children.
President Ronald Reagan once said, “The family has always been the cornerstone of American society.” Not to be correcting you, Mr. President, but the family is the cornerstone of any stable surviving society. Yes, you’re right, though, it was families that had the dream of a new world, who hazarded their lives in a treacherous journey from the old countries to these American shores to see those dreams become realities. It was families that cleared away the timber and built cabins, and tilled the soil. It was families that built communities and towns that grew into cities. It was families that established churches and schools and universities. It was families that invested in and built companies, many of which still bear their names today. It was families that raised up hospitals and health-care plans, that wrote laws, and that created our Constitution and our Bill of Rights.
President Reagan went on to say, “Our families nurture, and preserve and pass on to each succeeding generation the values we share and cherish, values that are the foundation of our freedoms. In the family, we learn our first lessons of God and man, he said, love and discipline, rights and responsibilities, human dignity and human frailty. Our families give us daily examples of those lessons being put into practice, in raising and instructing our children, in providing personal and compassionate care for the elderly, in maintaining the spiritual strength of the religious commitment among our people.”
However, the traditional American family-- the biblical American family-- is in serious trouble. Something has happened in the last hundred years or so. It’s obvious, isn’t it, that there has been a breakdown in the transmission of those foundational values from one generation to the next? It’s too bad, too, because now America is on the slippery slope of moral decline that leads only to the abyss of social decay and national disaster.
What happened? Well, this is not just preacher talk. From virtually every segment of our society-- from educators, sociologists, law enforcement, even politicians and others are heard lamentations over the breakdown of the American family. We like the idea of family, but somehow as the generations have come and gone, we’ve been unable to reproduce those spiritual family structures and qualities that we appreciate so much, and memories of them which we greatly cherish.
It’s being said that our present culture is hostile to family. That’s no mistake, friend, not at all. You know, of course you know, our entertainment-- I mean our movies, our TV and radio programming, the novels we read-- even much of our advertising, promote and glorify illicit sex-- pre-marital and extra-marital “relationships” (they are called that)-- and other lifestyles that are destructive to family welfare. Out-of-wedlock pregnancies and births are encouraged as normal-- if not “smart,” they’re normal. Some of the daytime talk shows have praised the personal joys of some of the most deviant kinds of human behavior, some of the wildest anti-family propaganda the mind can possibly conceive. The news media have all but “sainted” some of the music and movie stars and sports heroes whose lives and influence have been as degenerate and depraved as anti-family as humanity can get. Twice-- probably more than twice-- but I can recall two of the most popularized entertainment figures in America, among the women and girls, had babies out of wedlock and were celebrated for it. The radical feminist movements have proudly and militantly attacked the “traditional,” what I call the Biblical family-- as no longer appropriate to the modern age, too male-dominated, too conformity oriented. An extremely small minority, in a somewhat successful attempt in many quarters to renounce our religious heritage and from a secular society, has chosen other family forms. The feminist movement, for example, have proudly (well, more than one of them) they all have proudly and militantly attacked the Biblical family as no long appropriate to the modern age, too male-dominated and too conformity oriented, so they say.
Well, while all of that is true, and I have no fear of a successful challenge of any of it, even with that kind of social order, really now, doesn’t the responsibility for the failure of the American family lie greatly within the family itself? Especially the Christian family? I’m not talking now about the family as an institution as God ordained it. I’m talking about our human failure-- our inability or our lack of willingness maybe it is-- to sustain a family on God’s teachings.
Usually when we study about developing a strong family, we’re told a number of things to do, like (1) communicate, (2) express appreciation for family members, spend valuable time together, and develop a common interest, and do things together. Well, the list varies in length and in order and in wording, but they are all about the same. They’re good, don’t misunderstand me now, but let’s advance beyond them in this study. What do you say?
When God had completed His work of creation; when He had made man in His own image, and put him here in the midst of it all, He observed that “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make a helper comparable to him.” That is Genesis 2:18 in the New King James Version. The following verses tell how He joined her to him in the first marriage, saying, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh;” and thereby He created the first family. Too much can’t be said about His purpose in it: (1) for the happiness of its members, family members, (2) for the birth and rearing of children, (3) for the prevention of sexual immorality (1 Corinthians 7 and 2). But too little-- if anything-- is being said nowadays about the design of the Biblical family to meet the spiritual needs of man. Thus, many marriages are entered upon with greater emphasis on the sexual needs than on the spiritual needs. Meeting the sexual needs, pleasure, gratification-- gratification of the flesh alone is not sufficiently a strong enough bond to hold a family together. The spiritual family-- the truly Christian family is the nearest thing to the heavenly relationship that we can experience here while still living in the flesh. Here is where children are born. Here is where they first experience such virtues as love, and joy, and peace, and longsuffering, and gentleness (or kindness), and goodness, and faithfulness, and meekness and self control. You Bible students quickly recognize those as the Scriptures define in Galatians 5:22 as the fruit of the Spirit. There are others mentioned in other passages such as 1 Peter chapter 5, verses 1 to 11.
The essence of the Christ-like life is said to be in Jesus’ beatitudes recorded for us in Matthew chapter 5, verses 3 to 12: Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Family also blesses us with the first sense of belonging, with which also come our first realizations of responsibility. Belonging means we care and share alike. No member of the family has the right to make unreasonable and selfish demands on all the others. Every one has responsibilities to the others. Unfortunately some people never learned those things. Either they had no family, or they were never taught them, so they are having to suffer for it-- well, perhaps in some prison somewhere.
Family is where we receive our first lessons in truthfulness and honesty, with which we also experience the rewards of integrity. Here we learn about trust and loyalty. The Christian family is the school in which these characteristics are first taught, learned and experienced. From birth children need, not only to hear them taught, but to see them exemplified-- and to exemplify them themselves. Too many church members look to the church to develop the fruit of the Spirit in their lives or in the lives of their children. They expect the church to conduct classes, and seminars, and retreats and special programs in which these things are taught. Church leadership has a responsibility alright, don’t misunderstand me, to provide its people with substantive teaching that builds strong faith and that enables them to sustain a spiritual family. But it is up to the family to do it.
To build a spiritual life, a meaningful relationship with God, that must be a matter of priority with the family. The family who loves and reverences God and Christ will find doing God’s will a matter of preference and pleasure. The dinner table conversation of the spiritual-- the Christian-- family won’t be dominated by talk about the Super Bowl or the NFL or the NBA or the NHL; it will be about Jesus and the joys of living for Him. It won’t be punctuated with obscenities and profanities, but be praise for God and thanks to God for His grace and His goodness. The stereo won’t be bonging out vulgarities and novelties of gangster rap and hip-hop music, but psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. The magazines around the house won’t be Playboy or other girlie magazines, but spiritual food for the soul. The TV programs and the novels won’t be promotions of deviant and destructive lifestyles, but wholesome and educational. The TV may even be turned off at times. These choices and others won’t be dictated by government or by “clergy;” they be free choices of family members whose personal relationships with God mean more to them than the personal liberty to gratify their fleshly appetites. Their duty to God means more to them than their freedom to lust and covet. Being spiritual-- walking with God, as it was said of Enoch in Genesis chapter 5, verse 22, means rising against a strong down-draft of worldliness. But it’s done and the rewards are great and well-worth the struggle.
It’s altogether possible that the failure of the American family to pass on to succeeding generations these important values is because its offspring saw the inconsistencies between the profession of faith and the practice of faith. Oh, I hope you are a Christian, my friend, and that you are enjoying the rich and coveted blessings of a spiritual family life. But if you’re not, I strongly encourage you to make this day the day that you turn to the Lord, that you are baptized into Jesus Christ, and you begin to walk with God. What do you say that we just pray about it together? Holy Father, we pray that more of our homes will become Christian homes, and to do that we pray that more people-- husbands and wives, mothers and fathers and children-- will turn to You in repentance and will confess Jesus and will be baptized into Him. In pray Your blessings upon them to this end and bless them in their new lives as Christians that they may be faithful in all things. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
God-- I mean the only true and living God who created the heavens and the earth and everything in them-- the God who created the family-- says, “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” That is the first Psalm.
Strong families are the result of strong faith in God and in His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. Such faith isn’t developed by flashy, showy, hyped-up church programs, which very often are no more than a band-aid treatment of a serious inner disorder. Strong faith on which people can build a Christian family in this very unchristian world grows out of just plain, persistent Bible study and Bible preaching. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). There is no short-cut to it, my friend. The Lord’s way is still the best way, proven by time and trial. The Bible says, “Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him, and He shall bring it to pass” (Psalm 37 and 5).
If you would like a copy of this program in booklet form, CD or cassette tape please mail your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083 or by e-mail searchtv@searchtv.org. You may prefer to simply pick up the telephone and call; that’s probably what I would do. Our toll-free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. Well, may God bless you and your family throughout this week. And until then I hope you will be with us next week. God bless you. We love you.
|