Latest / Enjoying the Journey / The Connection Between Your Family and Your Church

Transcript

The Connection Between Your Family and Your Church · Enjoying the Journey

• 0:08
  In our busy world, family time is frequently
• 0:12
  neglected. It is vital that we give attention to
• 0:15
  our families while we can, and it is especially
• 0:19
  important to give attention to what God says in his word
• 0:23
  about our homes. For the next few moments, Let's join Scott
• 0:27
  Pauley as we open the Scriptures and find God's message for your family.
• 0:39
  I'd like to talk to you today about the connection between your family
• 0:43
  and your church. I think this is something that is so vital.
• 0:48
  It always has been, but it is especially important in the world
• 0:51
  we're living in. People need a church family. Every family
• 0:55
  needs a church family. I think sometimes
• 0:58
  there are, there are extremes on both ends. For example, on one
• 1:02
  end you have people that think we have everything we need in our family,
• 1:05
  we don't need the church. Well, that's, that's nonsense because the Lord Jesus Christ
• 1:10
  started the church. It's his body, and we believe the church
• 1:13
  is God's means of accomplishing his work in this world. So the
• 1:17
  greatest thing you could ever do for your family is connect it to a local
• 1:20
  New Testament church. Your kids, they will graduate
• 1:24
  from high school, they will at some point leave your house, at least
• 1:28
  you think they will, but they should never leave a local New Testament church.
• 1:32
  The church is something you can build your family around
• 1:37
  and connect your family to for their entire life. On the
• 1:40
  other end of the spectrum, there are people that think, well, I don't need to
• 1:44
  give any attention to training my children, teaching and working
• 1:47
  in our home. We're just gonna make sure everybody goes to church and they'll get
• 1:51
  what they need there. And so they kind of abdicate their own responsibility
• 1:55
  to a pastor or to a teacher or to a youth worker.
• 1:59
  And I think both of those extremes are very dangerous. And right
• 2:03
  in the middle, uh, the, the scriptural response
• 2:06
  is this: I have a family given to me by God, a family
• 2:11
  that God ordained, a family that I'm responsible for
• 2:16
  leading and guiding and teaching and nurturing.
• 2:19
  And God has saved me, placed me in the family of God,
• 2:23
  I have a responsibility to my local New Testament church,
• 2:26
  and the sooner and the, the surer I can make the connection
• 2:31
  between my family and my church, the better off it's going to be. Now,
• 2:35
  with that in mind, I want to turn our attention today to the pastoral
• 2:39
  epistles. The pastoral epistles of 1 and 2 Timothy
• 2:43
  and Titus deal with how the church is to operate and how a
• 2:47
  pastor is to guide, to lead, and feed a flock. And in
• 2:51
  these books, there's some amazing admonitions that
• 2:55
  connect to home life. I want to bring you to one. It's found in Titus
• 2:59
  chapter number 2. I want to read the first 6 verses, if I may,
• 3:03
  of Titus chapter 2, and then give you some observations from the
• 3:07
  verses and some applications for your family. Titus receives this
• 3:11
  letter written by the Apostle Paul under inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
• 3:15
  and when you come to Titus 2, verse 1, he he says this: But
• 3:18
  speak thou the things which become sound
• 3:22
  doctrine, that the aged men be sober,
• 3:25
  grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity,
• 3:28
  and patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behavior
• 3:33
  as become of holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine,
• 3:36
  teachers of good things, that they may teach the young women
• 3:40
  to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
• 3:44
  to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home,
• 3:47
  good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.
• 3:52
  Young men likewise exhort to be sober-minded.
• 3:56
  Do you see here the connection between the family and the church? He's writing
• 4:00
  to a pastor, a pastor by the name of Titus. He's given the pastor
• 4:04
  direction and guidance for the way he's supposed to teach
• 4:08
  the people and the way he's supposed to lead the church family.
• 4:11
  And in the context of that guidance, he's to be strengthening the
• 4:15
  home. Long ago, I heard my pastor say that strong churches
• 4:20
  are made up of strong families. I'm convinced
• 4:23
  that's true because the family is the basic unit of society. It is the basic
• 4:27
  building block of civilization. That's why when the family begins to crumble,
• 4:31
  everything else begins to crumble as well. And when the family gets
• 4:35
  stronger and is ministered to and nurtured, everything else grows and goes
• 4:39
  with it. Well, in Titus chapter 2, we see this divine connection.
• 4:43
  It's not one we are reading into scripture. God makes the connection
• 4:47
  between what's going on in the church and what they're to be doing in their
• 4:50
  homes. You'll notice in verse 1, he says, speak thou the things
• 4:54
  which become sound doctrine. The word sound here
• 4:58
  is the idea of healthy, healthy teachings from the word of God,
• 5:02
  uh, healthy souls. Look, the only way to have healthy homes
• 5:06
  is to give them healthy teaching. Now, the only way to have sound
• 5:10
  families is to have sound doctrine. So a
• 5:14
  couple of observations. The first is that God
• 5:17
  wants to work and speak in everybody's
• 5:21
  life. Did you notice the groups of people here? You've got the aged men,
• 5:25
  the aged women, the young women, and the young men— 4 distinct
• 5:29
  groups in Titus chapter number 2. You find all 4 groups in
• 5:33
  a family. You find all 4 groups in a church family, and God
• 5:37
  has a word for each. That's powerful, isn't it?
• 5:40
  So it matters not how old you are, it matters not what
• 5:44
  stage or season of life you may be in. God wants you to know
• 5:48
  him. God wants you to grow in the faith, and God wants you to become
• 5:52
  everything he saved you to be. Now, we could argue today what
• 5:55
  constitutes young and aged. May I say, at this
• 5:59
  juncture in my life, I'm learning that's relative. Old is always just a
• 6:03
  little older than you. The Apostle Paul referred to himself as the aged
• 6:07
  Paul when he was about 60 years of age. So I think it's safe to
• 6:11
  say that when people get to 60 years of age, they would fall in this
• 6:15
  category of the aged women and the aged men. And the young, of course,
• 6:19
  would be those younger than that— not just children and teenagers, because the young
• 6:22
  women and young men are the ones also rearing children.
• 6:26
  But God has a word and a work for everybody in the family and
• 6:29
  for everybody in the church. The second thing I would observe
• 6:33
  is that each of us have our responsibility to God.
• 6:37
  First of all, it's always to God. As you read these
• 6:41
  lists— I wish we had time to study them, I hope you'll walk through them
• 6:44
  yourself— but the aged men are to be sober, grave, temperate, sound in
• 6:48
  faith and charity and patience. Notice it's Godward first.
• 6:51
  It's his spiritual life. It's his frame of mind.
• 6:55
  The aged women begins with holiness. I like that.
• 6:58
  The young women with soberness, the young men with soberness— that's the
• 7:02
  one that's repeated throughout this sober-mindedness.
• 7:06
  It doesn't simply mean they don't drink alcohol. It means they're serious about the things
• 7:10
  of God. They have their head on right, they're thinking right. And so
• 7:14
  we all have our own responsibility to God. You can't choose for somebody else.
• 7:17
  You can't choose for another member of your family, but you must choose for yourself.
• 7:22
  But then ultimately, not only does God have a word and work for everybody And
• 7:26
  our first responsibility is Godward. But thirdly, notice please that
• 7:30
  what you do affects everyone else. This is God's way.
• 7:35
  The aged men are to be teaching the younger men. The aged
• 7:39
  women are to be teaching the younger women. The younger are to be
• 7:43
  able to follow the example of the elders and to listen
• 7:46
  to the exhortation of those who've been down the path a little ways. And the
• 7:49
  older, by the way, are to be ready to give it. And right enough
• 7:53
  with God to give it. We all have a relationship not only with God but
• 7:57
  with one another. In a church family, there are spiritual
• 8:00
  fathers and spiritual mothers. That doesn't mean anybody can take the place of your mom
• 8:04
  and dad, but it means there are spiritual fathers and mothers who nurture
• 8:08
  and guide and guard and feed and help you in the
• 8:13
  faith to move forward. In fact, Paul is writing to one of his in this
• 8:17
  passage. That's who Titus is. He's one of his sons in the faith, one of
• 8:20
  his sons in the ministry. Can I simply encourage you today?
• 8:23
  Connect your family to your church.
• 8:27
  Practically, when the church family gathers, make sure your family's
• 8:31
  there. When the church family has a need, let your family jump
• 8:36
  in and help with that need. When the church family is seeking to serve or
• 8:40
  advance the gospel in some way, let your family be right in
• 8:44
  the middle of that. My friend, you will always be glad you will always
• 8:48
  be grateful that you connected your marriage, your children,
• 8:52
  your family to God's family.
• 8:56
  The Lord is at work in this world, in homes and through
• 8:59
  local New Testament churches. May the God of heaven help us to
• 9:04
  stay connected. Don't let the devil come between. Don't let the devil
• 9:08
  divide you from his work, God's work, in the
• 9:12
  local New Testament church. Keep the connection between your family and
• 9:17
  your church. For more resources
• 9:20
  for your marriage and family, visit us at etj.bible
• 9:25
  and click on the Take the Next Step link, where you'll
• 9:29
  find many Bible resources that will strengthen your marriage
• 9:32
  and equip you to raise your children in the ways of the Lord.
• 9:37
  We highly recommend Scott's book New Testament Marriage.
• 9:41
  In it, you'll discover timeless biblical principles from the
• 9:44
  husband and wife team Aquila and Priscilla, and these
• 9:48
  principles are very applicable to your marriage today.
• 9:52
  From all of us at Enjoying the Journey, thanks for listening today,
• 9:56
  and until next time, we pray that you will
• 10:00
  enjoy the journey.