Building A Godly Family
In the last 50 years we have witnessed the American Family disintegrate
In 1950, about one out of every 20 children born in this country was born to an unmarried woman -- and there were very few abortions. By 1990, more than one out of every 4 children was born to an unmarried woman -- and hundreds of thousands more were aborted. Approximately half of all marriages that take place this year in the U.S. will end in divorce.
The Apostle Paul preached about the end times, warning that there would be a breakdown of true love and commitments
2Ti 3:1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.
2Ti 3:2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,
God established the home
Gen 2:21 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.
Gen 2:22 And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man.
Gen 2:23 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."
Gen 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
We have witnessed a global attack in the past few years on the traditional family. Gods Idea is One man to One Woman for One lifetime.
Gay marriage is a hot political topic in our country and throughout the world. Our society doesn’t understand why the church stands against sin and sexual immorality, but our God has called us to be a Holy people a people who take a stand for what God stands for, God established marriage and the home for a reason.
Strong homes make strong churches and strong churches make a strong nation.
Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
Rom 1:27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And Paul goes on in this passage and says that Rom 1:32 Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Summary of Comments Made During the White House Briefing on the Family," Dr. James Dobson made this comment about the family. "A family is not a collection of individuals who happen to live at the same address. They are people who share an intimate and complex connection with one another, being related by marriage, birth or adoption. Together they form something larger and more significant that the contribution of each person taken singly. That association, locked together by love and lifelong commitment, must have a secure place in the American legal structure. To continue to undermine its foundations and erode its authority is to destroy the very fabric of American life."
A Godly Home has Christ as the Head
In this passage of scripture that we opened with we notice that just prior to Paul giving instructions to Husbands and wives and children that he makes the statement that everything is to be done through Christ. Just as Jesus is the Key to the entire Bible, Jesus is the key to having a godly home.
Ecc 4:12 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him--a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
It takes three to make a home work, a godly father, mother and the Lord Jesus Christ make a three fold cord that cannot be quickly broken.
1Co 11:3 But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.
Noah was the first righteous man that we find in the Bible and the book of Genesis says in Gen 7:1 Then the LORD said to Noah, "Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.
Notice that Noah submitted to the Lord
Gen 6:22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
Gen 7:5 And Noah did all that the LORD had commanded him.
Noah submitted to the Lord and His family submitted to His leadership so that His whole household was saved by the flood
Jos 24:15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
Experts have told us that if we decrease the number of children per family, increase the education of parents, and spend more on government programs to improve child welfare, we will have higher "quality" children and improve the well-being of those children. We have done all these things. And what have been the results? Child poverty has increased substantially faster than poverty among adults. Juvenile crime has seen a similar rapid increase. School performance has declined. The teen suicide rate has tripled, and other measures of less severe emotional problems have escalated dramatically.
The Bible teaches that Christ must be the head of the home to have a functional godly family.
A Godly Home has mutual respect and love
This passage of scripture we started with the apostle teaches that in the home there is to be mutual love and respect between a husband and a wife.
Col 3:18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
Col 3:19 Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them.
Eph 5:21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
1Th 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Godly Home has discipline
The word discipline means to train or instruct.
Heb 12:6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."
Heb 12:7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?
Heb 12:8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
1Sa 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the LORD.
Pro 15:10 If you turn from the right way, you will be punished; if you refuse correction, you will die.
Carl Zimmerman wrote a very important book called, “Family and Civilization” In it he studies 3000 years of family life. This Harvard Professor makes a powerful case for the tradition family structure. The summation of the book goes something like this…so goes the children so goes the culture, or so goes the family so goes society!
Rules without morals lead to children without character
Who can ever forget Winston Churchill’s immortal words: "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills." It sounds exactly like our family vacation.
