Raising a G-Rated Family in an R-Rated World

This is really a continuation of our series on Living Like We Belong to God. It is just a different twist!

If we want to raise children who live like they belong to God, then we need to have a home environment where God is honored and where pleasing Him and knowing Him is central to all we do.

That starts (no surprise here) with us. We must live our lives in ways that not only model for our children what Godly living is, but also encourages them to want to follow after our God. We must set an example. We must discipline with love. We must teach them. We must walk our talk. We must point them to Jesus.

Yesterday, I gave you some questions to go home and talk about with your family. I hope you did that. Here are the questions, and some brief remarks.

1) Are my spouse and kids closer to God or more distant from Him because of me? Examine your life, how you conduct yourself, what you talk about, how you interact with your family. Does that inspire your family to want to follow God as well? Do they see Jesus in you? Do you display the character of God and the fruit of the Spirit in your life? Are you one person at home and another one outside of the home? Remember, your spouse and kids are watching!

Paul wrote:

"Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." I Corinthians 11:1

Ask yourself if you feel comfortable saying that to your family. If not, then you have some changes to make!

2) Can my family see that doing God's will is the most important priority in my life? When we live in ways that it is obvious that the word of God is central to our lives, it will demonstrate our priorities. Not only knowing His word, of course, but also obeying Him. What your family sees you DOING tells them what is important to you. Actions speak louder than words, as the old saying goes.

Paul wrote to Timothy,

"I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." I Timothy 1:5

It is apparent that Timothy learned by watching his mother and grandmother.

3) Does our family take a few minutes each day to read and discuss God's word? This doesn't mean that you have to have what we used to call "family devotions" each day. While family devotions can be a good thing, it can also become something that we "check off our to-do list" each day. The essential thing is to be discussing God's word in terms of what it is saying, meaning, and how it applies to our lives. By doing so, we are following the principle of old:

"Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9

4) Do all the family members pray together at least once a day? Remember, we're not talking about just prayer over meals. Family prayer can be a great way to help your children become comfortable with prayer. I know so many adults that are not comfortable with praying out loud or even praying silently. If children are raised from early in life experiencing prayer, they will not only come to be comfortable with it, but they will also see it as a normal part of life. That's a good thing!

5) Is our family ministering to others who are needy, lonely, and struggling, or are we self-sufficient and isolated from those whom Christ came to serve? We are called to live in community and be the body of Christ to one another. Encouraging. Admonishing. Praying. Helping. Sharing. Children who grow up in a family that is highly connected to the body of Christ as a part of their daily lives (not just Sunday, folks) will be much more likely to follow the biblical model of that.

"All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." Acts 4:32-35

"But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." Hebrews 3:13

6) Does our family talk to one another in loving tones as though we appreciate and value each other? If I were a fly on the wall in your home, or a mouse in your pocket, would I hear respect and honor, or would I hear you relating to one another in ways that don't honor God? Do you behave towards your family differently at home than you do in public? Ask your spouse that question.

"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who love his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church, for we are members of his body. 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh' This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." Ephesians 5:22-33

Spend some time this week asking yourselves, but more importantly asking God, about these questions. Ask Him to show you where you need to make some changes.

And, as always, talk to me! What are your thoughts? Post a comment, please!

Living Like We Belong to God - Part II

Isn't it interesting living in New Testament grace, that God hasn't changed? We often say, "oh well, we are under grace so we don't have to live anymore under the law anymore." While that may be true in one sense, it doesn't change the fact that God's requirements haven't changed at all.

Consider this:

God in talking to his chosen people (Israel) told them, "Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy." Leviticus 19:2

God expected them to obey His commands and be a holy people.

Now consider this: Peter, in his first letter, wrote to the church "But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written, 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" I Peter 1:15-16

Old Testament or New Testament, God's command is the same. Be holy. God expects obedience, even though our sins are covered by the blood of Christ and forgiven.

We are a people who belong to God, and our obedience to Him demonstrates that. So does our love for Him, our neighbors, and each other. God wants us to be a people that is so different from the world that it is obvious that we are Christians.

If you were on trial for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? It is an interesting question, isn't it?

So how do the people around you know that you are a Christian, or do they? Talk to me!

Living Like We Belong to God - Part I

I Peter 2:9 "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light."

Separation is a theme that starts way back in the very first chapter of Genesis:

Genesis 1:3-4 "And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness."

He separated light from darkness, because he saw that the light was good.

Light is a theme that is found in the book of I John. John uses the contrast of light and darkness to talk about how we should be different from the world. (See I John 1:5-7 and 2:7-11) If you read the entire book of I John, you will discover that one of the themes in it is that we are to be different from the world.

• We are to walk in light and not darkness.
• We are to love and not hate our brothers/sisters.
• We are to cling to the truth and not be led astray by lies.
• We are not to sin, but instead we are to obey God.

It is pretty clear that what seems "normal" to us, is something we should ask God about. We are clearly to be different. We are clearly to live so that people around us know that we are His.

Just as the priests of the Old Testament were held to a high standard, we are now the priests of the New Testament era. We have that high standard. It is true that our sins are paid for by Christ's death on the cross, but that doesn't change who God is or what He expects. His standard of holiness has not changed.

God takes disobedience very seriously, and as members of the "fraternity" of all believers, as New Testament era priests, we need to remember what God's standard is. We need to be diligent in our desire and effort to obey God.

Romans 12:1-2 "Therefore, I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--His good, pleasing and perfect will."

What does that passage tell us to do?

• Offer your body as a living sacrifice.
  
• Do not conform to the pattern of this world.
• Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
  

So what I am encouraging you to do this week is examine this passage. Is your body a living sacrifice? To me that means your body, but also everything that is "packaged" in your body--your mind, will, emotions, choices, etc. Do you lay it all on the altar?

How does your life conform to the pattern of the world? Are there ways in which you conform that aren't sinful in terms of breaking the ten commandments, but they aren't God's best for you? I probably see this mostly in the area of priorities. Soccer game is a higher priority than church. Baseball practice is more important than spending time in God's word. Hobbies are more important than regular participation in a small group. You get the idea.

Are you being transformed? Is your mind being renewed? Transformation is often slow, but when you (or others) compare yourself to how you were a year ago or five years ago, is there obvious change? There should be! You should think different, look different (and I'm not talking about taking off a few pounds or having more gray hair!), act different, and have different priorities in your life.

Talk to me. What are your thoughts about this idea of being different and "Living Like You Belong to God?" Post a comment!

Knowing Him

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him." Philippians 3:7-9 (NIV)

"I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with Him." Philippians 3:7-9 (NLT)

The Apostle Paul wrote passionately of his deep desire to know God and communicated his longing for the church at Philippi to know Him as well. Deeply. Intimately. Closely. In ways that are so amazing that nothing else counts as anything. In fact, he calls everything else "rubbish," "garbage," and "worthless" in comparison to knowing Christ.

Have you ever wondered what "everything else" means? Very simply put, it means "everything else." It means being willing to count everything we value as worthless.

One way we can think about that are the distractions in our lives. What are some of those distractions?

Job
Family
Home
Material Things
Sports
Projects
Computer
Hobbies
Electronic Games
Activities (including things we get our kids involved in)
Body Building
Camping
Traveling
and, yes, even...ministry

The list could go on and on, but those are a few that come to mind.

When I think about distractions, I picture myself standing before the Lord someday. My salvation is secure, but I imagine myself mentally running through my life and noticing all the things I thought were important. The community leadership positions I held. The Little League teams I coached. The awards my kids won on their sports teams. The remodeling I did of our homes. The vacations we took as a family. The sermons I wrote and preached. The new cars I bought. The list goes on and on.

I sincerely believe that on that day, all of that is going to seem sorely insignificant in comparison with knowing God. On that day I will see with clear eyes that all of it is garbage and rubbish in comparison to knowing Him.

My prayer is that all of us see with those clear eyes now so that we will make knowing God our number one priority.

Talk to me. What are your thoughts?

Fleshing out our Salvation

As I mentioned on Sunday, this year of sermons (so far) has taken us in a direction, as a congregation, that I find valuable. I challenge you to go back through your notes, or even go back through the blog posts and you will see a theme!

Because He Gives - A God who does something for us that we can't do for ourselves. (John 3:16)
Because He Loves - A God who loves people who don't deserve His love. (John 3:16)
BOASTING in the Greatness of the Lord - Serving a God with unlimited power and vast love for us (Ephesians 3:14-21)
Listen! Act! Walk! Committing ourselves to listen to what God says to do and then just do it! (Leviticus 8:23)
Who Needs Holiness Anyway? - Experiencing the blessings of serving God comes with responsibility to obey His commands--all of them! (Leviticus 11:44-45)
From Desperation to Destination - We serve a God who doesn't know the meaning of impossible. (Exodus 14:10-15)
Job Opportunity - We have an opportunity to influence those around us and bring them to the Lord. (Matthew 9:35-38)
How To Avoid Paying Up - We are to look different, act different, and believe differently than the world around us. (Romans 12:2)
What Will I Give Him? - You can't serve two masters or focus on two things at once. (Matthew 6:24)
What is it Worth? - Giving something up to get something better. (Matthew 13:44-46)

I want to use this post to summarize the past many weeks.

• God's powerful. We are weak.
• God loves us and we don't deserve it.
• He requires two things: Be obedient, and be different from the world.
• We are the light to those in our sphere of influence. When we obey and don't "fit in" we are more likely to draw them to the Light.
• We cannot hold onto two things at one time. We must give up one, in order to get the other.

It seems to me that what God has been trying to say to us is that because of the great salvation that has been purchased and given to us freely, our response should be to give EVERYTHING and obey Him completely.

"But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us." I Peter 2:9-12

Talk to me...what are your thoughts?

John 3:16 - Because He Gives

Thanks, once again, to Max Lucado for the inspiration for this message. This has been a good study, I believe.

Here's a recap of this morning's message. We were born into sin and with no resources within us to rid ourselves of our sinful condition and the consequences. We were helpless to help ourselves and we needed a Savior.

Not only were we unable to help ourselves, but there was no person among us who could deliver us from our sinful condition. Prophets, priests, religious leaders alike--none of them could release us from our sinful plight. Why? Because they, like us, were born with unholy hearts.

We needed help. We needed a Savior and we needed one who was without sin and was willing to be the solution to our problem.

"For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

The part I really love is found in Paul's second letter to the Church at Corinth.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
II Corinthians 5:17, 21

Imagine that tomorrow morning you wake up and turn on the TV to catch up on the news. Maybe you're watching the Today Show, and you are surprised to see Matt Lauer make an amazing announcement. Something along these lines:

"Good morning everyone. Thanks for joining us this morning. If you are driving an old clunker, you will want to pay close attention. Go out to your car right now and bring it down to the Rolls Royce dealer in your town. You obviously have no money to buy a decent car, or you would have done so. Therefore, the Rolls Royce dealer has taken pity on you and wants to exchange your clunker for a brand new Rolls Royce. No strings attached. All you have to do is admit your car is a piece of junk, and accept the free gift. Do this immediately, even if you have to tow it in."

That is a transaction that makes no sense. You have nothing except a worthless car and you exchange it for a car worth $150,000!

In essence, that is what Jesus did for us. He basically took our sinful hearts on Himself and in exchange He gave us a new heart. A clean heart. A heart that has been forgiven of sin.

That is something amazing and wonderful, isn't it? Through no action on our part, we have received forgiveness and can now walk as "new creations" because "the old has gone, and the new has come."

God makes healthy what was sick!
God makes right what was wrong!
God makes straight what was crooked!

Talk to me! What are your thoughts?

John 3:16 - Because He Loves

(Thank you to Max Lucado for the inspiration for Sunday's sermon!)

God greatly loves us and He showed His love by giving. He decided to love, and then demonstrated His love with an action.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." John 3:16

He chose us.

"For He chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight."
Ephesians 1:4

He didn't choose us because we earned it. We didn't enter a "God's Most Desirable People" competition. He just chose us because He wanted to.

"God wasn't attracted to you and didn't choose you because you were big and important. The fact is, there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise He made to your ancestors." Deuteronomy 7:7-8

Have you ever wondered why God chose the Israelites to be His people? It's pretty clear that it wasn't because they were all that holy or attractive or earnest. They were a mess. They were "stiff necked" (stubborn) and rebellious. They always had an idea that they deemed better than God's idea. Their idea of serving God was to do what they wanted until things got really bad, and then they would cry out and repent. God would forgive and restore, and then the cycle would start all over again.

If I had been God, I would have gotten tired of that after about 500 years or so. Okay, maybe sooner than that.

God chose them because He chose them. Humanly speaking, there was no reason. He could have chosen a people with more wealth, more population, or any number of "bigger, better, or more" that you can think of. But instead He offered them Himself and the privilege of being His chosen and beloved.

God chooses who He chooses, and thankfully we are included in His choosing. Let's face it, God doesn't get a prize when He chooses us, but miraculously He views us that way.

Let me end with lyrics from a song we sang on Sunday.

How Deep The Father's Love For Us
Stuart Townend

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

(That reminds me of the quote from Max Lucado: ""Junkyard wrecks and showroom models share equal space in God's garage.")

How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts no power no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Is there anything more awesome than God's love?

God loved.
He gave.
We believe.
We live.

It's as simple as that. What are your thoughts?