5 Keys To A Healthy Family

INTRODUCTION:

Attack on Marriage and Family - This is not a simple matter of rights and privileges. Insurance, parental controls, visitation rights, etc. The homosexual agenda has made startling ground in their attempt to dismantle the institution of marriage. How did we get to the point where our legislators are reviewing bills that embrace same sex marriages? How did we get to the point where the State of California is licensing same sex marriages? We fell asleep on our watch!

Humorous Illustration: Muskee’s in the henhouse again Deputy Dawg! Every time Deputy Dawg would take a nap on the front porch of the Sheriff’s Office, they’d come running yelling Deputy Dawg! Deputy Dawg, Muskee’s in the henhouse again Deputy Dawg! That was funny then. Its not funny anymore. We got where we are in my lifetime folks. It started when men fell asleep on duty. When men traded the moral authority invested in them as husbands for more pleasurable devices, a downward spiral began that is leaving our society morally bankrupt. Nothing in America has been left untouched by this disaster… from the tripling of the divorce rate to the astronomical increase in abortions. The state of the churches in America is directly related to this dismantling of the family. The Family is the foundation of this nation - it possesses an authority that is not present in anywhere else.

Legally we must protect and fight for family rights for the simple reason that the family is the only God ordained institution of its kind. The only household arrangement that carries the weight of this authority is that in which a man and a woman unite in “holy matrimony”. In a moment we will discuss the details of what makes a marriage holy. For this argument I want you to see that every other arrangement is “powerless”.

Without this anointing from God our nation has no moral power to stand. “You cannot be mentally or physically strong while you are morally wrong“. That makes the current legal issues surrounding the sanctity of marriage important to you. If your country abandons its moral authority in the family you will forfeit your ability to make any moral stand on any issue.

We, God’s people, have been entrusted with His authority in this area to provide an incubator for all other institutions. Local, State, Federal and all Civic organizations all derive their authority as an extension of that imparted on the family. When we lose this focus, “what is right” is replaced by the demands of the majority. The majority of people in this country are not Christian. It is foreign to Christian values to promote the idea that the majority rules caries more authoritative weight than the covenants of our Creator. Keep informed and keep active in the fight for family.

SERMON IDEA: Ephesians 5 and 6 show us 5 Keys to a Healthy Family

SCRIPTURE READING: Ephesians 5:22-6::4

1st KEY: A Healthy Family Has God as the Foundation (Eph 5:1)

Explain: Our families are to be formed by and fashioned to follow God not governments.

Legal Institution vs. Spiritual Covenant - In my opening remarks I stated we would discuss further this idea of holy matrimony. While it is absolutely necessary to fight for the legal rights of the family, we can in no way rely on the government to sanctify our marriages. Gen 2 describes God bringing a man and a women together in a covenantal arrangement that He binds together. It is a mirror of the relationship of the Trinity and the church and Jesus. Equal in essence but subordinate in function. The Bible is clear that men and women are created as equal bearers of God’s image. Each however, has a different role on earth. That is not an infinite role, in that Jesus proclaimed that we are neither given to marriage or divorce in heaven. The marriage covenant is established here, on earth for specific purposes.

When a man leaves his father and mother he establishes a new household. He is to represent God’s spiritual authority over that household with his wife as a helpmate. We have traded this idea of a holy marriage in for something less. Just as we cannot rely on the government to sanctify our marriages, we cannot rely on the church either. Getting married in the church no more qualifies as holy matrimony than a marriage license from the state of North Carolina. The Bible says what God has joined together, not Gov. Brown, or Rev. Jones.

This, is a health issue. For our families to be healthy they must have God as the foundation. How? Look it 5:1 “Follow God’s example in everything you do.”

Illustration: Imitating God - copy cat. If you see God doing something, copy that. It takes my karate students months of following me through our choreographed moves before they learn them. Even after they have tested on them, they must keep them up or they forget them, get them mixed up. You must do the same in your relationship with God. You must practice doing what He does or you will substitute the real thing for something easier to remember. I teach my students not to stop if they forget a move during a competition. Most of the judges are from different systems so they are not likely to know the specific order of the form. They know a bad technique though whether its in the right order or not. But improvising doesn’t work for God. He knows what He’s doing and what He expects of you. I don’t think I’ll ever get good enough at doing God’s work to take my eyes off Him and go at it on my own.