1. Chuck Swindoll tells the story of a man who backed his bright, shiny new Cadillac out of the driveway and headed for the freeway on his daily commute to work downtown. He was busily shaving himself as he drove--a normal operation for him. I suppose he had his radio on, and he was listening to the news and traffic reports as he made his way to his office. Witnesses say that suddenly he reached up behind his neck and slumped over the wheel. The car swerved and went into a culvert, and he was killed. His car was completely demolished.
An autopsy was ordered. Ad they began to put together the details, a keen-thinking physician noticed a small pinprick behind the man’s ear where a wasp had probably flown from behind the seat, or some part of the car, and had stung him, temporarily paralyzing a particular area of the nerve and blinding him with pain. He slumped over the wheel, lost control of the car, and died. Normally a grown man with normal strength can just swat away a little wasp with no problem. But when the wasp struck its mark, it led to a fatal crash. (Swidoll’s Ultimate Book of Illustrations & Quotes, pg. 180)
2. When we are on guard against potential disaster to our families we are able to fend them off. What happens when we are unaware or have been conditioned not to notice? Former FBI Agent, W. Cleon Skousen wrote The Naked Communist published in 1958. Among the 45 Communist pans of that decade were:
• #26 – Present Homosexuality, degeneracy, and promiscuity as “normal, natural, and healthy”
• #40 – Discredit the family as an institution; encourage promiscuity and easy divorce
• #41 – Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents; attribute prejudices, mental blocks, and retarding of children to the suppressive influence of parents
3. Whatever God makes, Satan tried to break
a. Family –
27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1.27-28
b. Church
c. Government
4. Consider:
I. Family Was Designed by God
A. Remember – God is the Focus of the Bible (not People)
1. The Bible assumes the existence of God – it was not intended to be a book of proofs
2. It is not a self-help book; history book; or book of practicalities alone – focuses on God as:
a. Creator
b. Instructor – 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Ephesians 6.2-3
c. Existing in Community (3 in 1??)
B. God is the Foundation of Family
1. This is a Vital Community –
18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” 19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. 21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called Woman,
because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. Genesis 2.18-25
2. Support
Author and speaker Zig Ziglar loved golf and once took his son with him out to the golf course. His son was still relatively new to the game, so Zig was very impressed by his son’s performance on one of the par 4 holes.
At the tee, the boy lifted the ball straight and true down the fairway. A second shot got him onto the green within 14 feet of the cup. Wanting his son to succeed, he went to great trouble in sighting the shot for him and gauging the lie of putt and then told his son just how he ought to play it. His son stepped up to the ball and putted the ball perfectly into the cup just as his father had taught him. His first birdie.
Then it was Zig’s turn. He also had made the green in 2 shots but his putt was far easier. For a moment he considered flubbing the shot so that he would not overshadow his son’s achievement, but then he decided against it because it would go against everything he had taught his son about doing his best. He sank the putt easily and also birdied the hole.
As they were walking away to the next tee, Zig casually asked his son "Well, son, were you rooting for me on that last shot."
"Dad," the boy replied, "I always root for you."
3. Essential to Society – As family goes, so goes the nation
America’s ambassador to Japan, Douglas MacArthur II, served as Counselor of the State Department under John Foster Dulles. Like Dulles, MacArthur was a hard worker. Once when Dulles telephoned the MacArthur home asking for Douglas, Mrs. MacArthur mistook him for an aide and snapped irately, “MacArthur is where MacArthur always is, weekdays, Saturdays, Sundays, and nights – in that office!” Within minutes, MacArthur got a telephone order from Dulles: “Go home at once, boy. Your home front is crumbling.”
4. Little Temple
II. Family Is Dependent on God – Deuteronomy 6.24
And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.
[The eagle is a symbol of strength (Rome/USA) – God said he took Israel from Egypt on eagle’s wings; Eagle has a strong sense of family – monogamous (one mate for life); same nest each year, usually in inaccessible places; protect young – must wait for adult plumage before leaving the nest which may take 2-3 years – parents care for until they are able to leave; they are dependent on parents as parents are on God
A. Families Are to be Consumed with Love For God—Deuteronomy 6.1-5
“Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
B. Families Are to Respect the Truths of His Word – Deuteronomy 6.6-9
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
1. Diligently = “sharpen” – Diligently sharpen your children with intense action
2. By Informal TALKING – not formal Lectures or Rigid routine
3. All through the day – not just one day/week or for a few minutes
4. Parents teach Children; children respect parents (Ephesians 6.1-4; Exodus 20.12)
A teenager once wrote this letter to Ann Landers:
“I am a 15 year old and my biggest problem is my mother. All she does is nag, nag, nag. From morning till night. It is, turn off the TV. Do your homework. Wash behind your neck. Stand up straight. Go clean your room. How can I get her off my case?” (signed) Pick, Pick, Pick.
The response:
“Dear Picky: Turn off the TV. Do your homework. Wash behind your neck. Stand up straight. Go clean up your room.”
C. Remembering God’s Faithfulness – Deuteronomy 6.20-25
20 “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?’ 21 then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’
Conclusion
1. Called to be stewards of what God has given
a. Family
b. Church
c. Country
2. What happens when we take God out of these? We fall.
3. Stuntman
The story’s told of a stuntman who – years ago - pulled a tightrope across Niagara Falls. He had announced that he was going to walk across both ways and a large crowd gathered for the event.
He started across the water on that tightrope and made it to the other side and the crowd applauded.
Then he started to walk back; he made it again and everybody applauded. People who said it couldn’t be done suddenly became believers.
Then he took a wheelbarrow and walked the wheelbarrow across. By this time everyone was a believer where some had been scoffers before.
Then he asked, “Now before I take the wheelbarrow back once more, and I’m going to ask for a volunteer. Who will ride in the wheelbarrow?”
The applauding believers suddenly drew back. But one young child came forward, and climbed into the wheelbarrow. As he made his way back and forth across the falls with this young girl in the wheelbarrow, someone in the crowd asked “how could she be so trusting of this man?”
Another in the crowd responded: “Oh, didn’t you know? That’s her father.”
4. A Promise to trust –
5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday. Psalm 37.5-6
