A Family that Shines!

Acts 2:37-39

Last sermon, based on the Parable of the Prodigal Son, I concluded that the goal of every family and every church is to be a place where both the younger sons and older sons can hear the invitation of the Father to come home and find rest, secure in His loving embrace as members of His forever family. Such a homecoming was promised at the Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection and only 10 days after His ascension to the right hand of the Father. In Acts 2:37-39, we learn about how God is going to be bring this parable to real life, through the presence of the divine in His people:

Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

⁵ Have this attitude ^a]in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be ^b]grasped, ⁷ but ^c]emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ⁸ Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death ^d]on a cross. ⁹ For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹² So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

This is an Old Testament image, as we see clearly in Daniel 12:3, “Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” Referencing the brightness of the stars was familiar in the OT, as God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. One example of this is found in Genesis 26:4-5, “I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes and My laws.” We shine to be a blessing, to fulfill the purpose for God choosing Abram in the first place – we are blessed to be a blessing. We are given the Holy Spirit, the divine nature, to shine the message of God like the angels, to illuminate the sky like stars, to pierce the darkness. This happens intentionally as we raise up the next generation to shine like the stars, together shining like a city on a hill.

Jesus carried this imagery into the New Covenant, saying in the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 5:14-16, “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” The city imagery brings together many households of faith… we are in this together as a community of believers.

Transforming Stories of the Next Generation! Week 7

Train Orthopraxis: Right Actions!

The human development of Jesus as an adolescent has been our template for these last three messages. The only biblical evidence of this stage of His life is found in Luke 2:39-52. I will show you how Jesus’ right mental picture of God led to right feelings about the situation and people, which then led Him to doing something that was totally unexpected and totally Jesus! That is the goal of Christian parenting, as we read in Ephesians 6:4: to raise the next generation in the instruction and discipline of the Lord so that they SHINE as witnesses of Jesus Christ. We will conclude this series on November 17, after I get back from our annual tour des grandparents and after our annual leadership message prior to congregational meeting with votes on November 10, which will also include the Awesome Autumn pitch-in.

Jesus showed us the importance of right thoughts leading to right feelings in how He handled situations differently than the religious culture of His day. We’ve already looked at the first three of the four Gospel stories we are examining to illustrate the connections between our thoughts, feelings, and actions. Let us never forget that right thoughts about God and creation, ourselves and other people, sin and redemption, and our purposes as stewards of God’s creation (worldview) lead us to interpreting our situations more accurately. A right interpretation facilitates us having a correct emotional response (right feelings) to our situations. We must model this for the next generation and train them up so that their right thoughts, lead to right feelings, which ultimately lead to right actions – being a witness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is today’s emphasis as we look back at these four stories and then finish today’s sermon with the Parable of the Loving Father, also called the Parable of the Two Lost Sons, but commonly called the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Jesus showed us the importance of right thoughts leading to right feelings in how He handled situations differently than the religious culture of His day. We are going to walk through these four examples again today, one from each of the four Gospels, to illustrate how Jesus’ worldview led to Him to interpret each situation differently, then, today, we will see how that led Him to respond with compassion, sending a ripple effect through time and space:

We will conclude with prodigal son story from Luke 15:11-32, contrasting the two sons’ actions based on their mental framework and emotional interpretation of the Father’s action. What can we teach the next generation from these stories and what actions do we hope they will model to their peers and future generations? What is Jesus teaching us about right thoughts about God and how right thoughts lead to right feelings, which then lead to right actions?

If you would like to watch this message, click HERE. (This link will appear later this week)

If you would like to watch the the entire service with the message, click HERE.

Train Orthopathy: Right Feelings!

Transforming Stories of the Next Generation! – Week 5

Train Orthodoxy: Right Thinking!

Luke 2:39-52

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. … We tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God”

A.W. Tozer

Luke 2:39-52

“When they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him. Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” And He said to them, “Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”

Connect with the prophet Samuel’s childhood in 1 Samuel 2:26, “Now the boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor both with the Lord and with men.” Allow me to share an important story that gives us the right perspective for today’s teaching, from 1 Samuel 3:1-19.

There are three important ways children grow in right thinking about God and how to be in a relationship with Him, as well as learn how to be adults:

Conclusion:

Acts 2:38-39.

Trust the promise of Pentecost! The Holy Spirit wants to partner with you in your parenting and mentoring.

Transforming Stories of the Next Generation!

Make Space for Grace in the Home!

Acts 16:22-34

I am teaching the fourth message in our new sermon series, called, “Transforming Stories of the Next Generation.” In this message, I will continue my teaching on Ephesians 6:4, focusing on what it is we are supposed to be instructing our kids at home and how discipline works in conjunction with that training up of our children in the way they should go.

Read Acts 16:22-34

What can we learn from a slow reflective reading of this story?

[Read twice, first time to give an overview then second time with parenthetical notes through this lens: People are people and not objects!]

Parenthetical Notes:

Read Matthew 9:9-13 and invite people to see how the story makes them feel.

In light of what we learned from the story of the Philippian jailer, contrast the difference between Jesus and the Pharisees. What does Jesus do that makes space for grace in the tax collector’s home?

(Imagery of the machine that needs to be managed verses creation that we get to steward.)

The Next Generation are NOT OBJECTS to be managed, fixed, or replaced.

The Next Generation are PEOPLE! People who need to be known, discovered, invited, cared for, stewarded, and loved.

Instruct & Discipline in the Home!

Ephesians 6:4 (part 2)

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

I am teaching the third message in our new sermon series, called, “Transforming Stories of the Next Generation.” In this message, I will continue my teaching on Ephesians 6:4, focusing on what it is we are supposed to be instructing our kids at home and how discipline works in conjunction with that training up of our children in the way they should go.

First allow me to set up the context for this Ephesians 6:4 passage, by examining its context, starting in Ephesians 5:1-6:4. After doing so, I want to highlight how that same context is paralleled in Colossians 3:21.

In order to be fruitful and effective in the Spirit-filled life, there are three areas of a child that must be instructed and disciplined:

Orthodoxy – mind – what is it you believe (right thinking / orthodoxy). This is often all we think about when forming our children; it’s the Bible reading and knowledge of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Beliefs matter! What we think matters!

Orthopathy – heart – what is it you experience that shapes your feelings and marks your character (right emotions / affections matter!). The life of the Spirit, unity with God, manifests the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5 has a development to it).

Orthopraxis – body / soul (living being) – what is it you do, not just occasionally, but your practices of the faith (right living / lifestyle matters!). Your rule of life – the rhythms and rituals that form you (2 Peter 1).

To keep it simple, right thoughts, lead to right emotions, lead to right actions.

We are transformed through the renewing our minds (Rom 12), to fulfill the Greatest Commandments (Matt 22). To ensure a child is marked by Christ, formed in Him, the parents must look at the whole person and not just a part of the child. This is where discipline is involved. Discipline goes hand in hand with instruction. Let’s look, once again at Hebrews 12:7-17, and learn why discipline: Love, holiness, peaceful fruit of righteousness, wholeness (peace with all men).

This is how parents bring about the promise of Ephesians 6:1-3 for the child – success in life.

Transforming Stories of the Next Generation!

Raise up the Children!

Ephesians 6:1-4

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 be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

RAISE UP CHILDREN TO BE:

LOVERS of God and people! The home is the greatest training grounds for faith because it is where the rubber meets the road for love. Let us never forget Matthew 22:37-40, the Greatest Commandment.

WITNESSES! The home is the first and most intimate place of living out the Great Commission, the family is your first mission team, while on Earth, and your eternal worship team in Heaven (4 kids / 3 kids). You first witness the love of Jesus to one another before you witness to anyone else and when we get that opposite, we have distorted God’s design of creation – stewardship must start in the most intimate of places.

DISCIPLES! Households are the organic small groups of every congregation. HOME is where discipleship first happens, but the parents must accept the call that Christian parenting is first and foremost disciple-making, built upon the reality that is a place of love and witnessing to the first love of God.

CHILDREN AND PARENTS HAVE THEIR OWN RESPONSIBILITIES: 

CHILDREN have one primary lesson to learn: Faith, to trust and obey, to respond to godly authority in love. And that comes with the ancient promise of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:12, the 5^th Commandment specifically). Children learn reverence for the Lord by first learning to respect and honor their parents. When kids don’t learn this at home, then we end up with a distorted understanding of fear, authority, love, and other crucial components of a healthy person’s life.

PARENTS have three responsibilities to fulfill:

Transforming Stories of the Next Generation!

Jesus Blessed the Children!

Matthew 19:13-15

This sermon series will focus on how we are called, as families and churches, to bless the children. The guiding image will be of Jesus having the children with him (Matthew 19:14). This series will call the parents, grandparents, and guardians to disciple their children in the home and for us to see the church as a partner, not a replacement, for this important work.

Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” After laying His hands on them, He departed from there.

Matthew 19:13-15

Households in the ancient world were much more comprehensive than the nuclear family. They often spanned multiple generations and servants. Moses taught the importance of discipleship in each household of Israel in Deuteronomy 6:1-9. The successor of Moses, reemphasized his resolve to lead his family as of first importance in Joshua 24:14-15. We see this priority clearly expressed in the qualifications of leadership in 1 Timothy 3:4-5.

Let’s get to the heart of this sermon series. I want to introduce it to you through a series of questions that I hope to engage you with. My desire is to not necessarily answer them for you thoroughly but to start a conversation with you that you keep going with those in your household.

They will experience the Kingdom of Heaven through faith and practice. To learn about Him and believe He is and He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6), yes, but most importantly, to fall in love with Him and put their faith in Him. To learn how seek Him first (Matthew 6:33).