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Voddie Baucham - A Family's Guide To The Church · Voddie Baucham Sermons

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  Speaker 1: I have looked forward to returning here for quite some time,
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  Speaker 1: and it's good to see familiar faces and new ones
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  Speaker 1: as well. And I'm excited about the time that we're
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  Speaker 1: going to spend together over the next several days examining
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  Speaker 1: this idea of family of God, the household of God,
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  Speaker 1: and the idea of the church as a family of families,
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  Speaker 1: and what these things mean. As a pastor, as a preacher,
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  Speaker 1: Words are sort of my life. And one of the
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  Speaker 1: things that preachers are always searching for is metaphors. How
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  Speaker 1: do we find an idea or a word that will
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  Speaker 1: help us communicate spiritual truth to individuals in a way
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  Speaker 1: that they will understand, in a way that will make
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  Speaker 1: it just leap off the page and come alive? for everyone.
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  Speaker 1: And it's difficult to do that. A lot of pastors love,
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  Speaker 1: you know, sports metaphors. And so a pastor will come
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  Speaker 1: up with his best sports metaphor and, you know, it's like,
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  Speaker 1: you know, it's like a touchdown or like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: and half the crowd's going, yeah, I know exactly what
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  Speaker 1: he's talking about. You know, and half the crowd's going,
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  Speaker 1: I don't even play basketball. You didn't get that, then
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  Speaker 1: you're probably one of those people I was talking about. But,
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  Speaker 1: It's difficult, you know, or maybe NASCAR. You know, there's
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  Speaker 1: some pastors and they'll talk about NASCAR. You know, it's
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  Speaker 1: like drafting. There's some people out there and they go,
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  Speaker 1: oh yeah, man, yeah, drafting. Three quarters of the audience
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  Speaker 1: sitting out there just wondering why NASCAR drivers would have
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  Speaker 1: to do any kind of drawing at all, let alone drafting. Again,
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  Speaker 1: it's tough, but there are some things that are ubiquitous.
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  Speaker 1: There are some metaphors that you can use that everybody gets.
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  Speaker 1: Not everybody. Everybody. That's beyond everybody, okay? There's a couple
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  Speaker 1: of those types of metaphors. One type of metaphor that
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  Speaker 1: I've found, and it's one of the passions of mine,
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  Speaker 1: and those of you who know anything about me know
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  Speaker 1: that if I just had to stop preaching, somehow tomorrow
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  Speaker 1: I just couldn't preach anymore. I'd go up in a
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  Speaker 1: restaurant somewhere and cook. I would just for the balance
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  Speaker 1: of my days. Still find a way to preach, but
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  Speaker 1: if I just couldn't, that's what I'd do. So one
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  Speaker 1: of those metaphors we can't miss anyone. Food. Amen? Talk
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  Speaker 1: about food and everybody understands that one. There's another metaphor
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  Speaker 1: that's a can't miss. And that's family. Because everyone is
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  Speaker 1: part of a family. Now, we hear that and some
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  Speaker 1: of us recoil. And here's why we recoil. There's a
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  Speaker 1: couple of reasons that we recoil. Number one, we recoil
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  Speaker 1: because of the destruction and devastation of the family in
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  Speaker 1: our culture. And so some of us recoil and we say, no,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not part of a family because I didn't have
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  Speaker 1: the mom and the dad and the brother and the
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  Speaker 1: sister and the white picket fence. Well, You may not
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  Speaker 1: have been part of what you considered an ideal family,
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  Speaker 1: but you're part of a family. Amen. I was not
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  Speaker 1: part of an ideal family. I was raised by a
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  Speaker 1: single teenage mother. I was not part of an ideal family.
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  Speaker 1: But I am part of a family nonetheless. I am.
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  Speaker 1: And sometimes we don't get that because, you know, as
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  Speaker 1: Pastor Tom just alluded to, You talk about family, and
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  Speaker 1: automatically people think, okay, this is for individuals in one
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  Speaker 1: phase of life. This is for the couple who has
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  Speaker 1: the boy and the girl and has the house and
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  Speaker 1: the white picket fence. Before you get to that age
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  Speaker 1: of 18, here's how we define family. A family is
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  Speaker 1: a mommy and a daddy and a son and a
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  Speaker 1: daughter until those kids reach 18. Then they leave and
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  Speaker 1: they go start their own families, and that family doesn't
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  Speaker 1: exist anymore. That's the way we think of family in
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  Speaker 1: our culture. But we talk about the empty nest syndrome.
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  Speaker 1: Why do we talk about the empty nest syndrome? Because
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  Speaker 1: in our culture, we view family so narrowly that once
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  Speaker 1: a child hits that magic age of 18, You know,
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  Speaker 1: and it says right there in second hesitations when they're 18,
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  Speaker 1: you know, your job is over with those kids and
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  Speaker 1: they go and they do their thing and just something
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  Speaker 1: magic happens all of a sudden. You know, 17 years,
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  Speaker 1: 364 days, everything's glorious. The next day, it's over. That's
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  Speaker 1: how we think of family. And so if I'm not
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  Speaker 1: sort of in that window, then family doesn't apply to me. Newsflash.
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  Speaker 1: You will always Be part of a family. Always be
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  Speaker 1: part of a family. You have always been part of
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  Speaker 1: a family. For those of us who have come to
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  Speaker 1: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that extends throughout all
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  Speaker 1: eternity as we're part of the family of God. Because
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  Speaker 1: when God talks about this idea, this concept of Him
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  Speaker 1: and His redeemed people, He speaks to us using a metaphor.
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  Speaker 1: And what metaphor does God use when he communicates to
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  Speaker 1: us this picture of him and his redeemed people? First
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  Speaker 1: of all, the triune God speaks to us about himself
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  Speaker 1: using metaphorical language. God the Father, God the Son, God
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. Where do you get Father and Son from?
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  Speaker 1: It's metaphorical language. That's family language. So when God talks
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  Speaker 1: about himself, he uses family language to talk about himself.
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  Speaker 1: When God talks about his people, his redeemed people, he
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  Speaker 1: refers to his redeemed people as the bride of Christ.
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  Speaker 1: So we have bride and groom language as it relates
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  Speaker 1: to the redeemed people of God. When he talks about
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  Speaker 1: his redeemed people eschatologically, or from the standpoint of things
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  Speaker 1: in the future, when there's the consummation of time, when
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  Speaker 1: there's consummation of this era about which we speak, what
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  Speaker 1: does he talk about? He talks about the wedding feast
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  Speaker 1: of the Lamb. Family. Family. The first institution God ever
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  Speaker 1: gave the world. Family. Family. That's it. That's it. And
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  Speaker 1: so when you talk about something that is ubiquitous, that
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  Speaker 1: everyone is a part of, family is precisely that. Some
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  Speaker 1: of the things we'll deal with over the course of
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  Speaker 1: this week, what we're going to do tonight is we're
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  Speaker 1: going to look at our primary passage here in 1
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  Speaker 1: Timothy chapter 3. But I want to give you a
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  Speaker 1: picture of what we're talking about here over the course
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  Speaker 1: of these few days that we have together. Tonight we
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  Speaker 1: want to look at this metaphor, if you will. This
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  Speaker 1: picture of the church and the living God as the
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  Speaker 1: household of God, as the family of God. And why
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  Speaker 1: it is that God would choose this metaphor as he
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  Speaker 1: speaks to us about himself and his redeemed people. And
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  Speaker 1: then we want to look at this picture of the
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  Speaker 1: family and how the family is a living, breathing illustration
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  Speaker 1: of to a lost, hurting, and dying world of the
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  Speaker 1: relationship between Christ and his church. And we want to
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  Speaker 1: look at the responsibilities of family members toward one another
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  Speaker 1: in light of this picture that we're painting of the
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  Speaker 1: redeemed people of God and the responsibility of the church
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  Speaker 1: towards family members. How do we coexist as a family
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  Speaker 1: of families? And what does this reality of this metaphor
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  Speaker 1: of the family teach us about what it means to
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  Speaker 1: be the church? Because here's just the bare bones facts.
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  Speaker 1: We don't know what it means to be family, and
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  Speaker 1: we don't know what it means to be church. By
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  Speaker 1: the way, there's a reason that we're wrong on both
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  Speaker 1: of those things. Because if you ever get one, you
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  Speaker 1: get the other. It's difficult to find somebody. who is
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  Speaker 1: a born-again, blood-washed, redeemed, Christ-following individual who loves Jesus and
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  Speaker 1: understands what it means from a biblical perspective to be
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  Speaker 1: part of a family but doesn't get the church thing.
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  Speaker 1: Or somebody, same type of individual, who gets it from
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  Speaker 1: a biblical perspective, what it means to be part of
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  Speaker 1: a community of faith, of a local body of believers,
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  Speaker 1: but just can't quite figure out the family thing. Those
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  Speaker 1: things are so interlinked. and so intertwined. And when we're
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  Speaker 1: off on one, we're usually off on both. And I'm
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  Speaker 1: going to argue over the course of this weekend that
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  Speaker 1: because our culture has so downgraded the family, if you will,
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  Speaker 1: and because we as members of our culture have been
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  Speaker 1: so infected by our culture's thinking as it relates to families,
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  Speaker 1: We have a difficult time functioning as members of families.
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  Speaker 1: We have a difficult time understanding the significance of our
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  Speaker 1: roles in families. And we have a difficult time functioning
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  Speaker 1: as a family of families in the Church of the
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  Speaker 1: Living God. So with that in mind, let's look at
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  Speaker 1: this principal passage in 1 Timothy chapter 3. Our key verses,
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  Speaker 1: 1 Timothy 3.15, will refer back to that again. And
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  Speaker 1: there are a lot of passages of Scripture here. that
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  Speaker 1: we'll look at multiple times over the course of this weekend,
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  Speaker 1: and we'll see them all work together. Let's look here,
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  Speaker 1: beginning at verse 14. Let's look at 14 through 16
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  Speaker 1: there in 1 Timothy 3. Paul says, I hope to
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  Speaker 1: come to you soon, but I am writing these things
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  Speaker 1: to you so that if I delay... you may know
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  Speaker 1: how one ought to behave in the household of God,
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  Speaker 1: which is the church of the living God, a pillar
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  Speaker 1: and buttress of the truth. Great indeed, we confess, is
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  Speaker 1: the mystery of godliness. He was manifested in the flesh,
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  Speaker 1: vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations,
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  Speaker 1: believed on in the world, and taken up In glory. Amen. Hallelujah.
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  Speaker 1: Praise the Lord. I want you to understand the significance
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  Speaker 1: of this metaphor. In order to understand the significance of
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  Speaker 1: this metaphor, we'll see the things that this family has
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  Speaker 1: in common, this household of God has in common with
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  Speaker 1: all households. And let me put this forth for you
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  Speaker 1: as we begin. We are speaking in ideal terms, and
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  Speaker 1: we will be over these next few days. And there
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  Speaker 1: are a lot of people who sort of get upset
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  Speaker 1: about that because, you know, we shouldn't be speaking about
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  Speaker 1: families in ideal terms because there are no ideal families. Well,
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  Speaker 1: let's just switch one word there, okay? Because people do.
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  Speaker 1: I've heard that from people. We shouldn't be speaking about
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  Speaker 1: family in ideal terms because there are no ideal families.
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  Speaker 1: Let's take out families and put Christianity. We shouldn't be
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  Speaker 1: speaking about Christianity in ideal terms because there are no
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  Speaker 1: ideal Christians. We shouldn't be talking about what Christians ought
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  Speaker 1: to be because nobody is. So let's just talk about
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  Speaker 1: the mediocrity that Christians happen to walk in so Christians
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  Speaker 1: can feel better and not have to be measured against
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  Speaker 1: the ideal all the time. Does that make sense to anybody?
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  Speaker 1: To speak in those terms? No. No. No, let's go
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  Speaker 1: back to our food metaphor. You know, you should not
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  Speaker 1: speak about nice, juicy, 12-ounce bacon wrap medium rare filet
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  Speaker 1: mignon in ideal terms. We all know that there's no
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  Speaker 1: such thing as an ideal 12-ounce bacon wrap Medium rare.
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  Speaker 1: Melt in your mouth. I'm sorry. But you get what
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  Speaker 1: I'm talking about, all right? We're talking about families in
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  Speaker 1: those terms because that's what we're shooting for. That's the
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  Speaker 1: picture that God has painted for us. That's what we're
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  Speaker 1: looking for. And whatever you do in your life, for
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  Speaker 1: the rest of your life, there is an ideal there.
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  Speaker 1: If you're an automaker, if you're trying to make the
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  Speaker 1: ideal automobile, you have a blueprint. And that blueprint that
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  Speaker 1: you're trying to get to is the perfect whatever automobile
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  Speaker 1: that you're making. If you put pools in for a living,
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  Speaker 1: somebody's got to be doing that around here because I
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  Speaker 1: see them everywhere. Not everywhere. Everywhere, alright? If you do that,
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  Speaker 1: there's a picture in your mind of this ideal group.
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  Speaker 1: You may not make a perfect one, but you have
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  Speaker 1: a picture in your mind of what you're shooting for.
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  Speaker 1: And it's because of that picture that you know how
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  Speaker 1: to get better next time. Amen? Whatever it is that
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  Speaker 1: we do, as a student, you have the idea. There
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  Speaker 1: is the ideal paper. Some of the students in the
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  Speaker 1: room I don't know why you had to bring that up.
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  Speaker 1: You have this picture in your mind, the ideal semester.
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  Speaker 1: You know, whatever it is. But just because you haven't
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  Speaker 1: gotten there, doesn't mean that we stop talking about it
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  Speaker 1: in those terms. Because that's what pushes us on. So
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  Speaker 1: we're going to talk about this in ideal terms. Because
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  Speaker 1: that's the way we'll understand the metaphor. Here's what all
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  Speaker 1: families have in common with what we see here in
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  Speaker 1: this passage of Scripture. Number one, all families have this
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  Speaker 1: sense of order. We see that inherent here in this passage.
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  Speaker 1: As Paul talks about Timothy, about wanting to come to
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  Speaker 1: see Timothy soon, but in case he doesn't, he wants
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  Speaker 1: to instruct him as to how people ought to conduct
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  Speaker 1: themselves in the household of God. Interestingly enough, just before this,
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  Speaker 1: in verses 1 through 13, he has given us the
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  Speaker 1: requirements for overseers, bishops, elders, And deacons, order. He's talking
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  Speaker 1: about how people ought to conduct themselves in the church.
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  Speaker 1: And he's saying that right after he's talked about what's
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  Speaker 1: required of those who will be in leadership in the church.
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  Speaker 1: Every household has order. Every household has an authority structure.
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  Speaker 1: And like every other household, the household of God has
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  Speaker 1: that kind of order. And again, interestingly enough, in our culture,
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  Speaker 1: there is a sense of rebellion against authority. We've seen
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  Speaker 1: that ever since it sort of came to age in
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  Speaker 1: the 60s. Those of you who were around, you don't
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  Speaker 1: have to admit it. But there was this sort of
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  Speaker 1: rebellion against authority in the 60s. It was interesting. And
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  Speaker 1: people who grew up in the 60s, they had this
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  Speaker 1: interesting thought. It was really rather naive. And the thought
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  Speaker 1: that a lot of people who grew up during that
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  Speaker 1: time had was they hated authority so much. that when
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  Speaker 1: they had kids, they wouldn't be authoritarian with their kids.
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  Speaker 1: How's that working for you? Wouldn't have this sense of authority.
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  Speaker 1: Interestingly enough, there's also a rebellion against authority in other
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  Speaker 1: spheres of life. One of the areas where there's been
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  Speaker 1: that sort of rebellion against authority To the church of God.
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  Speaker 1: So much so that there are many pastors who sort
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  Speaker 1: of eschew the idea of authority and really sort of
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  Speaker 1: play down that idea of authority. But there must be order.
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  Speaker 1: We just read this evening this passage in Ephesians 5
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  Speaker 1: through 6. This passage about order. And the sense that
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  Speaker 1: there must be order. We sort of eschewed that as
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  Speaker 1: well in many of our homes. The idea of male headship. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: that's just so mean, and you just can't be domineering
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  Speaker 1: like that. And that's just chauvinistic, and that's just this,
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  Speaker 1: and that's just that. And we rebelled against this idea
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  Speaker 1: of authority. Newsflash. Anything with two heads is a monster.
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  Speaker 1: Either put it behind glass and stare at it, or
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  Speaker 1: kill it. There must be a sense of order. There
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  Speaker 1: must be a sense of order. Now, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: when we think about that sense of order, usually we think, especially,
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  Speaker 1: you know, sort of within the home, you know, we
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  Speaker 1: get this picture of, you know, me, mine, you, woman.
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  Speaker 1: Me speak, you do. Well, we're going to look over
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  Speaker 1: the course of this week at what that order and
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  Speaker 1: what headship looks like. It doesn't look anything like that.
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  Speaker 1: Nor does it look like that in the household of God.
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  Speaker 1: when you look at this picture that's painted for us
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  Speaker 1: in these first 13 verses of 1 Timothy chapter 3,
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  Speaker 1: this sense of order that's there. And so the first
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  Speaker 1: sense in which we see this metaphor being borne out
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  Speaker 1: is the sense in which there is order and there
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  Speaker 1: is authority in the household of God, just like there
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  Speaker 1: is order and there is authority in every individual family,
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  Speaker 1: in every individual home. And to the degree that that
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  Speaker 1: authority reflects biblical reality, You have an effective, a well-ordered,
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  Speaker 1: and a healthy home and a healthy church. But to
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  Speaker 1: the degree that that order and that authority does not
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  Speaker 1: reflect the biblical paradigm and the biblical model, you have
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  Speaker 1: an ineffective, a dysfunctional, and an unhealthy home and church.
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  Speaker 1: Show me a home that has difficulty with its order
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  Speaker 1: and its structure and its authority. I'll show you a
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  Speaker 1: home that's dysfunctional in multiple ways. And again, we'll talk
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  Speaker 1: about that when we get to those passages. Show me
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  Speaker 1: a church that has difficulty with order, with authority. Doesn't
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  Speaker 1: understand what that is. And by the way, when I
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  Speaker 1: say that, difficulty with order or with authority, I'm both ways.
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  Speaker 1: Show me a church where there are people who have
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  Speaker 1: authority that is more than the Bible ever intended for
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  Speaker 1: them to have, and I'll show you someone who's tyrannical
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  Speaker 1: in their home or tyrannical in the church. That is dysfunctional.
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  Speaker 1: But you show me someone who God's called to man
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  Speaker 1: up and lead, who refuses to do it, and I
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  Speaker 1: will show you A church or a home that is
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  Speaker 1: in disarray and desperate for a leader to stand up.
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  Speaker 1: And so in that sense, we see the metaphor coming
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  Speaker 1: to bear. There is this sense of order. Not only
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  Speaker 1: is there this sense of order, but there's also a
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  Speaker 1: sense of propriety. Look at what he says here in
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  Speaker 1: verse 14. Hope to come to you soon, but I
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  Speaker 1: am writing these things to you so that if I delay...
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  Speaker 1: You may know how one ought to behave in the
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  Speaker 1: household of God. How one ought to behave in the
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  Speaker 1: household of God. That means there's propriety. There are things
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  Speaker 1: that ought to be done, and there are things that
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  Speaker 1: ought not be done in the household of faith. Just
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  Speaker 1: like in any home, there is a sense of propriety.
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  Speaker 1: Things that you ought to do and things that you
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  Speaker 1: ought not do. There is a sense, anymore, of propriety.
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  Speaker 1: almost an antinomianism when it comes to order and propriety
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  Speaker 1: within the context of the church. The sense in which
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  Speaker 1: anything goes in the context of the church. There is
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  Speaker 1: a sense of the church of this type of dysfunction
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  Speaker 1: that looks and sounds something like this. The church exists
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  Speaker 1: to draw as many people as quickly as possible. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: the church must employ any and every means that is
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  Speaker 1: effective at drawing as many people as quickly as possible,
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  Speaker 1: regardless of what the Scriptures say. And so we have
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  Speaker 1: individuals who are doing things that are very effective at
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  Speaker 1: drawing crowds to churches very rapidly. And some of these
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  Speaker 1: things are actually in direct opposition to what we find
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  Speaker 1: in the Scriptures. But when confronted with these things... The
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  Speaker 1: answer that you get, or the response that you get is,
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  Speaker 1: you must not love lost people. You see all the
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: people who are coming. Philosophically, there's a word for that.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: It's called pragmatic utilitarianism. If it works, it's right. If
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: it achieves the desired ends, it's right. That's it. That's
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: the only way we measure things. If it achieves the
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: desired end, it's right. Problem is, we start with the
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: wrong premise. And the premise that Paul starts with here
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: with Timothy is, there are things that are proper, and
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: there are things that are not. There is propriety in
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: our church. There is propriety in our homes. We all
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: have rules about the way that we operate in our homes.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Some of the rules in our homes may be slightly
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: different than others. Interestingly enough, the Bible has plenty to
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: say about propriety within the context of the home. Plenty
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: to say about what we ought to do and what
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: ought not to be done in the home. We had
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: dinner tonight at a restaurant. It was interesting. We just
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: sort of ran across and witnessed some of that impropriety
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: at one point. group or family that was there. You
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: just really kind of felt sorry for them because of
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: some of the things that were going on. Your heart
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: just goes out to people when they're really struggling and
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: really trying very hard to have some kind of order.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: You know, you're in a place and something's happening that's embarrassing.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: And mom and dad are obviously embarrassed and they want
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: the embarrassment to go away. But the embarrassment won't go
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: away unless And there's nothing they can do about the
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: embarrassment to make the embarrassment go away. And you see
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: the look on their faces, that look that says, I'm
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: very embarrassed right now and it won't go away. I'm
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: trying to act like everything's okay and this is really cute,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: but it's really not cute. I'm sorry, would you please
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: act like I'm not here because I want to disappear.
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: There's a sense of propriety. There are things that are
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: right and there are things that are wrong. there are
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: ways that we ought to behave. And there are ways
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: that we ought never to behave. We know those things
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: when we see them. But just like in any other family,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: in the household of God, these things have to be
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: established and understood by all. How does that happen? I'm
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: glad you asked. Look at the next part of the text.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Household of God, which is the church of the living God,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: a pillar of and buttress of a truth. No. Not
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: what the text says. Pillar and buttress of the truth.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: The truth. Every home has standards. Every home has a standard.
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: In the household of faith, we have a standard. We
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: don't just have a standard. We are a pillar and
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: buttress of the standard. The standard is truth of the
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: living God. I love when Jesus in John 17 says,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: sanctify them in truth. Your word is truth. Amen? We
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: have the truth. Jude says, contend earnestly for the faith
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: that was once for all handed down to you. The saints. Amen?
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: We have the truth. We have the faith that was
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: once for all handed down to the saints. And that
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: is the standard. That's what we're the pillar of. That's
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: what we're the buttress of. The truth of God. Notice this.
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: The text does not say that the church is the
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: source of that truth. God and God's word as he
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: has revealed it to us His self-revelation is the source
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: of that truth. Now, that's a very fine distinction, but
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: it's a distinction that has to be made. Because here
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: is what's happened historically. Historically, there have been movements who
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: have said, for example, the Church of Rome. And this
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: is why the Reformation happened, folks. The Church of Rome says,
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: we are the standard of truth. And when it comes
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: to the Scriptures and us, we win all day, every day,
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: and twice all Sunday. If we say something and the
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: scriptures say something else, guess who's right? We are right.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: It's not what this text teaches. It's not what this
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: text teaches. The truth about which we speak here is
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: the standard to which church is held. Not the standard
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: that the church defines herself. It's the standard to which
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: the church is held. It's the word of God. And
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: if I look up and I'm saying something that disagrees
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: with what's in the Word, and just because I have
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: enough people in the church who are agreeing with me
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean I'm right. Let me give you an example.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: We have four children for now. You know? And imagine,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: you know, our four children or, you know, one day
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: down the road, our ten children or whatever. They get
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: together and they have a meeting. And they decide You
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: know what? Dad's getting kind of old. I know in
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: the past he has said that this was the standard.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: There's ten of us. There's only two of them. The
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: way I see it, we got them outvoted ten to two.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: Let's go call them in here. Mom, Dad, the ten
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: of us have something that we'd like to say to you.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: We understand that up until this point, the standard has
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: been this. However, we just came to the realization that
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: there are ten of us and only two of you. Therefore,
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: henceforth and forevermore, the standard will change to this. If
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: that ever happened, I would, from then on, be introduced
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: as a man who had ten children. That's what it
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: would look like for the church to redefine truth. We
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: are the household of God. This is God's household. So
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: we represent that truth. We proclaim that truth. We have
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: that truth. We hold that truth. We defend that truth.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: We live by that truth. But we don't define that truth.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: That truth defines us. There's a difference between those two.
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: We don't define that truth. That truth defines us. We
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: get off on that and we start down the road
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: that we talked about earlier. If you remember, we talked
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: about this idea of propriety. Where do we determine and
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: how do we define what's proper and what's not? What
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: is the standard? Is the standard we exist for? To
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: satisfy as many individuals as quickly as we possibly can. Therefore,
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: anything that we do that leads us toward that goal
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: is now proper. Is that the standard? No, no, no, no, no.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: That's ten kids saying, Dad, we now outvote you. No,
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: the standard is we do God's work, God's way. He
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: will honor His work. Amen? That's the standard. That's what
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: it means to be the pillar and buttress of truth.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: We live by that standard. All families have a standard.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: Perhaps you're sitting here today and you're saying, you know,
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: it's interesting. You know, our family really doesn't have a standard.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: And maybe we need to establish a standard. You're halfway correct.
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: You do need to establish a standard. But you already
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: have a standard. You just need to establish another standard.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Did you catch that? You have a standard. Not having
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: a standard is actually a standard. Amen? You've established a standard.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: Now you have to go and establish another standard. You
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: have to acknowledge that the standard that you now have
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: is there by default and it is not correct. And
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: you have to say there's a new sheriff in town
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: and a new standard to be established. All of us
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: will live by that standard. That standard comes from the
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: Word of God. And over the next few days, we'll
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: talk about what that standard looks like. Amen? Don't be scared, kids.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Not till tomorrow. All families have a standard. And ultimately,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: All families have a founding patriarch. All families. Some of
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: them may not be great, but my family's founding patriarch,
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: not great. As a matter of fact, in writing Family
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Driven Faith, one of the things that Bridget and I
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: did together was take a long, hard look at our heritage.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: At what we've come from. And a long hard look.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: At the dysfunction. All around us. Tracing it back. And
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: none of this stuff happened by accident. None of it.
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: Last two generations. Both sides of our family. Us and
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: all of our siblings. Our parents and all of their siblings.
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Last two generations. Both sides of our families. 25 marriages.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: 22 divorces. Here's what's interesting. That didn't just come from nowhere.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: Didn't just happen out of whole cloth. The generation before,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: just talking about my side, the generation before, that's my grandparents.
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: My paternal grandparents. My father's mother and father had three children.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Lived next door to each other, were never married one day.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Three kids lived next door to each other, never married
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: One day. Not one day. Their legacy? None of their
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: children stayed married. Their legacy? One of their grandchildren has
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: stayed married. One out of all of their grandchildren stayed married.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: Every family has a founding patriarch. And what that family
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: looks like is determined by and large by the legacy
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: left by that founding patriarch. Unless there is someone who
• 34:03
  Speaker 1: rises up and intentionally goes in the opposite direction and
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: intentionally runs away from the legacy that was left by
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: that founding patriarch. By the way, not When that happens
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: in a situation like mine, we say amen, hallelujah, praise
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: the Lord, run in the opposite direction. Here's the bad news.
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: That also happens when you have a godly founding patriarch.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: All of a sudden, somebody stands up and says, I'm
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: not going that way anymore. What about the family of God?
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: It's our founding patriarch. That leaves a pattern for us
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: as to who we are and what we stand for.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Verse 16. Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: the world, and taken up in glory. That is none
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: other than the King of kings, the Lord of lords.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: The Rose of Sharon. The Bright and Morning Star. That
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: is Jesus Himself. Yeshua HaMashiach. That's who that is. Jesus
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: Christ of Nazareth. The Messiah. The Redeemer of God's elect.
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: That's who that is. That is our founding patriarch. That
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: is the one who was slain for us before the
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: foundation of the world. That is the one who establishes
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: for God this people called by His name. That is
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: our founding patriarch. So every family, when it determines what
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: its identity will be, looks to its founding patriarch and
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: does one of two things. It looks to the founding
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: patriarch and says, that is who we are and we
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: are proud of this. We will walk in this way.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Or it looks to its founding patriarch and says, I'm
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: tired of that. I'm going in another direction. What do
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: we see, by the way, in King's Chronicles? All of
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: them are referred to by whether or not they live
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: like their father who? David. And he did right. Right.
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: in the sight of God, like his father David. Or
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: he did evil in the sight of God and did
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: not walk in the way of his father David. Either
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: they walked like their founding patriarch or they did not
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: walk like their founding patriarch. That's how a family is defined.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: Do you walk like your founding patriarch or do you
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: not walk like your founding patriarch? Our founding patriarch is
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. And in the family of God, there is
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: but one question. Do you walk like Jesus or do
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: you not? Is there a family resemblance in you? Because
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: here's the difference between the family of God and the
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: family from which I come. We don't have too many
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: outsiders claiming to be Barkhams. Amen. Look at our family
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: and say, man, jacked up legacy right there. I don't want, no,
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: I'm not one of them. No, no, no, no. In fact,
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: we have Barkhams who claim not to be Barkhams. We
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: don't have the other way around. So we don't have
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: that problem. Church of the living God, though, suffers from that. We, parents,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: growing up side by side, suffers from individuals who claim
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: to be part of the family when they are not.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: But here's why many do so. Many do so because
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: they are unaware of the authorities. Unaware of the propriety.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Unaware of the state. And unfamiliar with the founding patriarch.
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: So they look around and they see an institution. And
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: believe that it's important to be a part of this institution.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: And because they come to be part of an institution,
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: they miss a family. Do you hear that? There are
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: a lot of people out there. And if you ask them,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: that's why I don't ask people anymore. Are you a Christian?
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: Because most people in this culture answer that question based
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: on the institution. Are you a Christian? What that computes
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: to in their mind is, are you remotely related or
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: connected to the institution that we call church? And the
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: answer to that is, of course I'm a Christian. I
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: go to church several times a year. Of course I'm
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: a Christian. I was raised in the church. Of course
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: I'm a Christian. My parents were Christians and my grandparents
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: were Christians. Of course I'm a Christian. I've been a
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: Christian all my life. These are institutional answers, people. Every
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: one of those answers. is an institutional answer do you
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: belong to the institution that is known as referred to
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: as church yes yes I do I belong to that
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: institution why because if it's an institution is a completely
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: different standard And people feel completely comfortable answering that question
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: in the affirmative. But when you use the metaphor that
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: God uses, and you talk about the family, and you
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: ask about a family resemblance, then things change. Are you
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? Have you been
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: born again? Have you come to the place where you
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: realized that you were a sinner in desperate need of
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: a Savior? That you were hurtling headlong toward hell unless
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: there was an intervention on your behalf? Have you come
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: to that place where you realized that there was nothing
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: that you could do to interpose anything between you and
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: the wrath of God yet to come? And as a result,
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: have you thrown yourself on the mercy of God Almighty?
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: Allowing him to interpose the precious blood of Jesus Christ
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: and wash you and cleanse you and make you whole.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: And therefore, do you now look in the mirror and
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: see something that looks uncannily like Jesus every time you
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: look at what used to be your meager, old, sinful,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: nasty self? That's the question. No institution can give you that.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: You were born into your fleshly family. You have to
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: be born into this family. Asher and Elijah were adopted
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: into our earthly family. They're going to have to be
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: adopted into another family as well. Not an institution. A family.
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: This metaphor is incredibly important in our day It's incredibly
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: important in our culture because institutional quasi-Christianity is running rampant
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: among us. And there are people who have absolutely zero
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: family resemblance to our founding patriarch, Jesus. They look nothing
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: like him. They are not under the authority that he
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: has established. They do not understand propriety as he has
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: set it forth. Because they do not know the standard
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: that he has left for us to follow. Because they
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: have not come face to face and had their lives
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: utterly transformed and come to a saving knowledge of our
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: founding patriarch, Jesus. And they are lost. And do not
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: know they are pitiful and wretched and blind and naked,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: as Revelation 3 says in the church of Laodicea. They
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: don't know it. They don't know it. Why? Because there
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: is a pragmatic, utilitarian institution masquerading as the church. And
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: many are being deceived. Hear me to that. Don't ask
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: yourself if you belong to an institution. Ask yourself if
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: you see the family resemblance. Test yourself to see if
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: you be in the faith. Is there any evidence that
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: you are connected to the Lord Jesus Christ? Not institutionally.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: It's not what I'm asking you. I'm not asking you
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: whether your mama and your grandmother belong to an institution
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: and therefore somehow you're grandfathered into the institution. That's not
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: what I'm asking you. I'm not asking you if you
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: were dragged into the church house so often when you
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: were young that you just assumed that you were part
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: of the institution. That's not my question to you. I'm
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: not asking you if guilt comes over you at Christmas
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: and Mother's Day and Easter and a couple other times
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: a year so you have to go to the church
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: house because you think somehow your mother who desperately wants
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: church for you may call you and you have to
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: admit that you didn't go. That's not my question. question is,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: have you been overcome and overwhelmed and overtaken by a
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: founding patriarch who passionately loves his own, showers his grace
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: on them, and oftentimes rescues them from the institutions In
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: order to make him part of his family. Here's what's interesting.
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: When you become a part of the family, you despise
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: the institution. You despise it. Why? Because it misrepresents our
• 44:42
  Speaker 1: founding patriarchy. We love it so much. Because it leads
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: people astray. And we love to see the family grow.
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: Legitimately so. We're no longer comfortable with the institution when
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: we've experienced adoption into the family. It's an incredible metaphor
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: that God uses. Every family has some sort of authority.
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: Every family has a sense of propriety. Every family has
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: a standard. And every family has a founding patriarch. Over
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: the course of this weekend, we'll look at what that
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: means for this organism called the church. And we'll look
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: at what it means for this codependent, symbiotic organism called
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: the family. And we'll see the beauty of that symbiotic relationship.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: What it looks like when the church sees herself as
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: a family of families. Not an institution. Something more. Here's
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: my admonition to you tonight. if you don't come to
• 45:59
  Speaker 1: anything else that we do over the course of these
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: next several days, would you examine yourself and just be honest, please,
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: I beg you, just be honest. Have you been institutionalized?
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: Is that all you have? Just the institution? And by
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: the way, you know, you know that you sit here
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: tonight in desperate need of an authentic, life-changing relationship with
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ. In the institution, you justify your sin.
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: In the organism, you're humiliated by it. In the institution,
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: you try to make up for your sin In the organism,
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: you're washed clean of your sin. By the blood of
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: the Lord Jesus Christ. A righteousness that is alien to yourself.
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: Because in the institution, you look down your nose at others.
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: Because you do things that separate you. But in the organism,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: you'll look down at anyone Because you realize, but for
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: the grace of God, they go on. Please don't settle
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: for an institution when you can be adopted. My prayer
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: for you is that God would bring you to the
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: place where you see yourself as He sees you. where
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: you are just about to be crushed under the weight
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: of your own sin and then realize that Jesus has
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: interposed His precious blood. Not so that God could continue
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: and finish crushing you, but so that you could be
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  Speaker 1: redeemed and rescued and made whole and free. That's my
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: prayer for you. Would you just consider that tonight? Would
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  Speaker 1: you consider institution, family? Which one is it? Where's your trust?
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  Speaker 1: Will you just look into the mirror, spiritually speaking tonight,
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  Speaker 1: and just answer me a very simple question. When you
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  Speaker 1: look at yourself in the spiritual mirror, do you see
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  Speaker 1: the reflection of our founding patriarch Jesus Christ? Or are
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: you still looking at the one who said, the woman
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  Speaker 1: made me do it? Because here's the bad news. The
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  Speaker 1: founding patriarch for all of sinful humanity, by default is
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  Speaker 1: the first step. And all of us when we look
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  Speaker 1: in the mirror, we see his sin reflected in our lives.
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  Speaker 1: And it's only through that adoption, through repentance and faith,
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  Speaker 1: that we are born again Old things pass away, new
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  Speaker 1: things come. And that was the reflection of the second Adam.
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  Speaker 1: Founding patriarch of the family of God. My prayer for
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  Speaker 1: you is that if you don't come to another thing
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  Speaker 1: over the course of our time together, you hear that,
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  Speaker 1: and you just take an honest look at yourself.