Stone Four: Family as Church, Church as Family
(With whom are we to follow Jesus?)
10/18/2015
Pastor Miles
1. Our families are to be "little churches".
Love God, love others, make disciples - the irreducible core of the Christian life.
"These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 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 on 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."
Deuteronomy 6:1-7 NIV
Parents are given the task of discipling the next generation, to worship God everyday of their lives.
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother"—which is the first commandment with a promise— "so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord."
Ephesians 6:1-4 NIV
It's the father's responsibility to train and bring up their children to obey God.
We need to consciously live out the Gospel in front of our families.
More is caught than taught in our children's lives.
See p.128 The Fives Stones
2. Our church is to be a "larger family".
"Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity."
1 Timothy 5:1-2 NIV
"My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old— things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. They would not be like their ancestors— a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him."
Psalm 78:1-8 NIV
Families that function well are able to discuss their different opinions, and trust the Lord to work them out.
Families should gather around the table to share a meal and their lives together.
No comments:
Post a Comment