Marriage and the Family Part 2: God's Family Plan

Appreciated the sermonette Mr. Oliver gave. Very encouraging and uplifting, and it ties into what I would like to talk about in a number of ways today as well. If we go back to July of last year, I started a sermon series. At least at that time I said it was a sermon series. I gave one sermon and then have not been back. We're gonna go back there today because I promised it as a series. So this is part two of a marriage and the family series, part one again given back in last July.

And that was titled husbands and wives. And in that message I went through a number of the details and the instructions that the Bible gives us for the marriage relationship. We'll delve into that slightly today, but again that's been covered extensively in that first message. And so we'll be just simply weaving it in with the overall message for today. But today is marriage and the family, part two in the subtitle is God's family plan. God's family plan.

Understanding God's family plan, brethren, is critical to having our own family plan and understanding what God is doing in the family. All around society today, the God-ordained family is really taking a beating. You don't have to look very far to see that's the case. You can turn on the television, browse the internet for two minutes or less, pick up the newspaper, and again won't take you long to see that it is so. Recently the television was on in our home for an evening and we watched very little broadcast television, as in what's going out over the air with containing commercials.

We cut cable and satellite and dumped that years ago, and partly because there really didn't seem to be anything on it worth watching. We picked up streaming television over time, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon. We actually have all three, and still it seems like there's hardly anything on worth watching. But if you kind of shuffle through all of those, maybe you'll find a series or some things that are family-friendly and settle on it from there. But a couple weeks ago our television was on in the evening just on the local station, and it was during the time block that is traditionally called family programming.

You know, it's while the kids are still up, maybe after they've done their homework before they've gone to bed, and you have a lot of the evening time game shows and various forms of entertainment that, again, are generally labeled as family programming. At least that's what they called it when I used to watch it. And as it was on in the background that evening, honestly I was shocked because there were numerous references all throughout the evening in terms of in the commercials and even in the programming themselves related to alternative lifestyle, sexual immorality, various other things.

And again, as I said, it was contained in a block of what would be considered family programming. And maybe I shouldn't have been shocked. And when I consider what maybe seems to be normal and what we absorb in society today, maybe some people who watch a lot of television really wouldn't be shocked. But I was just thinking this morning in the car ride down and I was asking in Lewiston and I should have gone on and Googled it, but if I go back in my mind about 20 years, I remember a sitcom series called Murphy Brown.

You remember the name Murphy Brown. And don't quote me this in case I'm not correct in my recall, but as I recall Murphy Brown was a single woman who was successful, kind of a high-powered, successful career woman. And at some point in that series, she decided that she wanted to have a baby. And I remember the uproar over the fact that, you know, this isn't a traditional family. There isn't a father in the home and here society is promoting a single woman who wants to have a baby.

And I even remember that coming up in conversation during the presidential debates. And I think, wow, how far have we come in 20 years in terms of what is promoted, in terms of what ought to be considered by society to be socially acceptable regarding the family structure. But again, family programming, I was shocked in what was just portrayed time after time. In the beginning, God brought one man and one woman together.

He joined them as husband and wife, and he gave them the instructions to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth. And God ordained that marriage relationship, and he ordained the structure of the family that would then come forth from that. I covered that marriage relationship largely in, again, part one of this message. But in today, what constitutes a society, a family in society, when you think of what is promoted, what constitutes a family has been greatly distorted from what God has given us. The standard for marriage, the standard for what we would consider to be a family, and even in addition to that, the value of the sanctity of life that is produced in relationships between a man and a woman coming together in a sexual union, the sanctity of that life has been greatly diminished as well.

I recently read another statistic, and I, you know, again, I was shocked. And in my mind, the statistic I read was much larger than I even anticipated, and maybe I should just get over my shock, and we all understand this isn't God's world, and there are things that happen in this world that are bad, but at some point when you open yourself up and look at it and have some exposure to it, then it can in fact be shocking to wrap your mind on.

I saw a statistic recently on the abortion rate, the number of babies in abortion worldwide in one year, and frankly, if I was asked to guess, if I asked you to guess, how many babies do you think are aborted worldwide in one year? Maybe just think in your head what the number might be. I was way low. I asked Darla, she was way high, so I mean, maybe it depends on what your exposure to this has been and what you've read about it, but the article said, and this is an estimate, because there are certain parts of the world where this record-keeping doesn't exist, but based on trends of number of people per million who have done this or do this, they've come up with this figure, it's generally agreed to.

The estimate is that 56 million babies are aborted each and every year around the world. Just wrap your mind, if you can, around that for a second. 56 million. I googled the population of New York City, right? That's a big city by all standards. New York City population just under 9 million.

So if you figure the number of babies that are aborted in one year around this world are roughly six times the population of New York City, and it is year after year after year. Again, the sanctity of life and what God has created through the marriage relationship and even as it takes place in this world outside the marriage relationship. But again, the value of that life has been greatly diminished. Of the 56 million, it's estimated that 35 million are from the region of Asia alone.

So a very graphic number. It's a very sad commentary, brethren. The value of life, the value of marriage, the value of the family and what constitutes a family according to what God has ordained from the beginning is under assault in the world that we live in today. And as I said, you don't have to go very far to see that it is so.

But you know, as the people of God, we've been called to do something different in our lives. We've been called to set a different standard and to live according to a different standard. It's the standard that God himself set, again, from the beginning. When God created mankind, he formed the institution of marriage and he designed the structure of the family as he did for a very important reason. And it is a reason that is lost on most of the world.

Scripture reveals to us, brethren, that God is building his spiritual family. God is building his spiritual family. And the development of that family begins within the structure of our very own physical families, such as God has created and ordained that structure from the beginning. Let's begin today in Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 3. Ephesians chapter 1, if we're going to talk about the basis of the physical family, we have to understand its purpose, why it even exists, and what it is that God is seeking to do.

Ephesians chapter 1 and beginning in verse 3, it says, "...blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." And so what we see first off is that God the Father and Jesus Christ exist together in a family relationship. It's a relationship of Father and Son, and God is seeking to expand that family, to build that family.

To add and increase even more members to that family. Verse 4, "...just as He chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holing without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself." So God is bringing us to Himself as sons by Jesus Christ, as in we come under that sacrifice and are reconciled to our Father in heaven as sons, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us acceptable in the beloved.

And so clearly God's plan is a family plan. It was God's intent in the foundation of the world that His Son would come as a sacrifice, again, to reconcile mankind to Himself, so that His purpose of building His family could be a reality. Now, in light of that knowledge, in light of understanding what it is that God is doing and the purpose of our creation, we see that the physical family is not simply about what we're doing on our own for our own happiness. You know, if it was about us or if it was about what a guy and a gal happen to want to get together and do for their own happiness, then throw out the rule book.

Indeed, that's what much of the society has done. But that's not the purpose and the intent for the man and the woman and the family. It is about what not what we're doing. It is about what God is doing to build His spiritual family for eternity. Notice John chapter 1 and verse 9. John chapter 1 and verse 9. They're coming into the introduction that John makes on the life of Jesus Christ.

John chapter 1 and verse 9. It says, that was the true light. Speaking of Christ, he was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through him and the world did not know him. He came to his own and his own did not receive him.

You think about this. You have, in this case specifically, the Jewish people who Christ came to. They were His own in terms of God had a covenant with these people and they were looking for the Messiah who would come. And Christ came according to the prophecies and they did not receive him. He was maybe not who they thought they were looking for. They rejected him, came to his own, and they did not receive him. It is a very sad commentary. Verse 12, but as many as received him, some did, to him he gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God.

So the phrase here, verse 12, children of God, those who received Christ, to him he gave the right to become children of God. That phrase tells us that God is creating his own family. God is creating his own family. But again, the point is, it begins with ours. And just as human families have children born into them who are part of their family structure, God the Father is seeking to have children brought to birth into his family, his spirit family, who will be loved and nurtured and part of the family forever.

Brethren, that is our incredible destiny. That is the purpose for which we've been created, to be children of God, members of his family forever. Again, it's a destiny that's largely lost on this world around us. Many people don't understand the purpose of their existence, don't understand why they were born and what it is that God is doing.

And frankly, that lack of direction has led to an unrestrained society where each one does what is right in their own eyes. Now, in the spiritual sense, this process of sonship begins at our baptism, the spiritual sonship. It begins when we repent of our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. We're baptized, we have hands laid upon us, and God gives his Holy Spirit. And it's by the giving of the Spirit, then, that we enter into this relationship, this parent-child relationship, as spiritual children of God. Notice Romans chapter 8 and verse 11 in this regard.

Romans chapter 8 verse 11. Again, it's God's Holy Spirit in us that sets us apart as his children. Romans 8 verse 11 says, "...but if the Spirit of him, Spirit of God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead, dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit which dwells in you." Verse 12, "...therefore, brethren, we are not debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." And so sonship in the family of God comes as a result of receiving God's Holy Spirit as an indwelling presence in our life and living our life according to the lead of God's Spirit. According to what it is that God has given us, as Mr. Oliver said, as good stewards of the understanding in the Word that God's extended here to us today. But again, that indwelling presence of God's Spirit, then God says, this is my son, this is my daughter, I have a relationship with you in the Spirit and I've called you to be mine.

Verse 15 says, For you did not receive the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry out, Abba, Father. I've explained this before, but sonship is actually a better translation to this word than adoption.

You look through the commentaries, look through the Greek lexicons, you've received the Spirit of sonship by which we cry out, Abba, Father. Adoption is not what God is doing, all right? Sonship, bringing us to birth in His family as His literal children, begotten by His Spirit, is what God is doing. So Jesus Christ in the Word is called the only begotten of the Father. He is the first one to have gone fully through this process, to have lived in the flesh, received the Holy Spirit of God, remained faithful to the end, resurrected in glory, now sitting at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He is the only begotten of the Father, having gone through that entire process. You and I are children of God, we could maybe describe it as in utero. He's given us His Spirit, we're growing and developing, and the day that we are born into His family will be the day will be of the likeness in the kind of God. And so God is building His family. The physical family is a type of what God is doing spiritually, and probably even more specific than that, it is a microcosm of the building process. As in what God is doing on a grand scale, He has given us to do on a small scale. And what we do contributes to what it is that God is doing. This is the basis, brethren, that I want to build on our understanding of the importance of the physical family. God is creating a family after His own kind. In the beginning, God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. That was a physical creation. We look like God in the flesh. But the creation did not end at that point. God's continual creation goes on yet even today as He adds His Spirit now and is developing His nature in His people, ultimately bringing many sons to glory. It is a continual creation process until one day we are born as glorified children into the family of God. So again, God is creating a family after His own kind. And as God's children, we can literally, by the Spirit, call out to Him Abba Father. He is our Father in heaven. We can have that parent-child relationship with Him, and we can know that He hears us and He indeed cares for us. Carrying on in verse 16, we're still in Romans chapter 8, verse 16 says, The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children then heirs, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. What this is telling us is that God literally designed us to be a part of His spiritual family. By creation, by the physical creation, He designed us to one day be a part of His eternal family. Well, how did He do that? Well, Mr. Oliver again mentioned the difference between man and animals. All right, we're all made of the dust of the ground, but what separates mankind from the animal? It's the spirit of man. There's a spirit which is in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. So the spirit that God has placed into us as this physical creation out of the ground, extend to us a spirit that comes from Him, that spirit in man gives the ability for us to be joined in relationship with God by His Spirit, His Holy Spirit, which He then imparts to us.

The animals are not going to have a spiritual relationship with God. They don't have the spirit of man, but He has created us directly for that purpose, and those who have the Spirit of God indeed are the children of God. We've often said in the church that God is reproducing Himself. And that's a, I'd say, a pretty accurate statement. God is reproducing Himself. He is literally producing and creating children for His kingdom who will possess not only His holy righteous character, but His spiritual likeness as well. The glory that God and Christ share will be attributed and given to us upon our change as well.

Notice 1 John chapter 3 and verse 1. 1 John chapter 3 verse 1 here, the Apostle John's writing about our spiritual makeup, which will come following our change at 3 turn to Jesus Christ. 1 John chapter 3 and verse 1 says, 2 Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not know us because it did not know Him. If you think about what God has done for us, God who loved the world sent His only begotten Son.

It's an incredible expression of God's love for us that we would be called children of God. Verse 2 says, Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. We're not changed yet. We haven't had that transformation from the physical flesh to the Spirit. In fact, we have no idea what the glorified spiritual nature is like. God dwells in unapproachable light whom no man has seen. In God's glory, we could not even look upon His presence.

And the same with Jesus Christ. In His glory, we could not look upon His presence. And so the fact is, brethren, it has not been revealed what we shall be, but what does it say? But we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. So when God the Father is revealed in His glory, we will see Him as He is. When Jesus Christ is revealed at His coming, I imagine we will have ample opportunity to see both the Father and the Son in their glory.

We will be their children, again, of the same kind, of the same likeness, of the same nature, members of God's Spirit-born family. Again, this is the incredible destiny that God has promised for those that would believe. It's what He's created all mankind for. It's the purpose of our existence. Our physical families, brethren, as God has established them from the beginning, are designed to represent what God is doing on the spiritual level.

They're to be a reminder for us of the purpose of our existence, and they actually serve as a tool of bringing many sons to glory, and ultimately from what God is doing. In light of the truth of the purpose of the family, just consider for a moment how God must view the 56 million abortions that happen on the earth every year. You're potential members of His family, right? At least in the physical sense, at this time, their life cut short without opportunity to even come to know God.

How must God view that? These are His potential children that He's created for a purpose. In light of that truth as well, just think about how God must consider those things that disrupt marriages, that disrupt families, that destroy the structure of those relationships. Just consider how God must view the behaviors of mankind that tear apart the family.

How must God view sexual perversions? How must God view alternative lifestyles that are not according to what He has established for the purpose of creating His family? Again, if it's all about us and what we want to do and what feels good, we'll do our own thing. But if it's according what God is doing, what He has established, indeed there is an order to these things. Don't imagine for a moment that Satan's perversion of sex is a random occurrence. Who would like to destroy the plan of God? Well, certainly the adversary would.

How do you destroy the plan of God? Well, God's plan is a family plan. Let's destroy the family. Satan's perversion of sex, pornography, all these things that pervade our society are not happenstance. They're not just casual choices that you can make and do what you feel like doing with no real consequence.

Indeed, we need to recognize that those things are an affront to the plan of God. Ultimately, they're a spiritual assault on the family of God and that which He is seeking to build. And, brethren, we must understand the parameters of what God has established from the beginning and what it is that He intends for His people.

Knowledge of what God is doing through the physical family must guide our relationships with one another as we deal in our marriages and with our children. As the Church of God, we must hold the line regarding the sanctity of life, the sanctity of the God-ordained relationships that He's established, the value of the covenant of marriage, and the family structure.

Because, again, all of this is not about what we're doing. It is what God is doing with us and through us and ultimately for us. God is building a family for Himself, but you know what? This is for us as well, the joy of being a part of His family forever. So, again, as we evaluate our relationships and our family, the core basis of why we're even doing what we're doing and why we are holding to standard is because this is what God is doing and this is the plan He has called us to. The relationship between husbands and wives must be built with this perspective in mind. Same perspective must be maintained in guiding the parent-child relationship as well. Let's go to Malachi chapter 2.

Malachi chapter 2. I'm going to pick it up in verse 11. Here God is rebuking His people, Judah, because they've broken their covenant with Him, something that was a habitual process for Israel and Judah. Malachi chapter 2 and verse 11, it says Judah has dealt treacherously and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord's holy institution which He loves. He, Judah, has married the daughter of a foreign God. God entered into a covenant relationship with Israel and Judah that was in type a marriage covenant and God said, you know what? These people played the harlot, committed idolatry, ran off with the gods of other nations, ran off with the people of other nations, and they broke the covenant I made, says God. Don't imagine that doesn't come without a cost. Verse 12 says, may the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob the man who does this thing, being awake and aware, yet who brings an offering to the Lord of hosts. It's like I'm gonna go live my life the way I'm gonna live my life and then I'm gonna bring my offering to God and somehow imagine that it's okay. I'm gonna do my own thing, as long as I present an offering. Verse 13, and this is the second thing you do. You cover the altar of the Lord with tears, with weeping and crying, so he does not regard the offering anymore, nor receive it with goodwill from your hands. Yet you say, for what reason? Because the Lord has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, with whom you have dealt treacherously, yet she is your companion and your wife by covenant. God is saying, not only do I have a problem with my people in terms of how you've regarded the covenant between you and me, I have a problem with how you regard the covenant between yourself and your wife. He says, you've dealt treacherously with her, the wife of your youth, your companion, the one who is yours by covenant. Verse 15, he says, but did he not make them one? God says, he's gonna take a man, I'm gonna take a woman, join them together in marriage, and the two will become one flesh. And that's not just one in terms of the sexual union, because that's what man can do simply on their own. But this is joined in one in covenant, whereby the covenant is made before God, and God himself is a part of that covenant, because God ordained the marriage. And he says, and as Christ, and I believe Paul said later, what God has joined together, let man not separate. So it is God who takes the two and makes them one, having, verse 15, having a remnant of the Spirit. And why one? He, God, seeks a godly offspring. Therefore, take heed to your Spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. So one of the main purposes in which God brings a man and a woman together in marriage, in this relationship, joining them as husband and wife, is because God is seeking godly offspring. God is seeking godly offspring. In other words, he's seeking offspring within the physical family that will be guided and directed towards him by who should be godly parents, pointed to God.

Ultimately, to be that godly offspring for his kingdom. That is their purpose. That is why God has established the family, why he's brought marriage together. God is seeking godly offspring. In light of that, God wants husbands and wives to be very careful with how they deal with one another.

Because you see, it's not only those two individuals that are impacted by that relationship, it is the children who are impacted as well. Whether it's positively or negatively, God says, you take care of this covenant. You watch yourself. Guard your spirit.

Be careful how you deal with one another in this relationship I've given you.

Verse 16, it says, for the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce, for it covers one's garment with violence, says the Lord of Hosts. Divorce is a violent episode within the confines of the family.

God says he hates it. Therefore, take heed to your spirit that you do not deal treacherously. Again, watch yourself. Mind your spirit. Yield to my spirit. Conduct yourselves within your marriage relationships as I have intended you do. Again, a healthy marriage is the foundation for a healthy family. And God is seeking godly offspring. And that reality starts with you and me and the family that he has created and what in the relationships he's given to us.

As Mr. Oliver said, everything comes from God. He gives us stewardship of that which he gives to us for a time that includes the relationships, the children, all that God gives us we must be right and proper stewards of. Again, understanding what God is doing to bring many sons to glory as members of his divine spiritual family ought to motivate us to guide and direct our families according to his great purpose. God's plan is a family plan, and it's based on what God is doing right here on earth within the physical family. Scripture shows us we have roles and responsibilities.

If you're married, you have roles and responsibilities within that marriage. If you have children, there's roles and responsibilities of the parents towards the children and the children back again then towards the parents. To the parents, I would say, and this can apply to both parents, but especially fathers, I would ask you to consider this. Consider that your example is important. As I told the brethren down in Lewiston today, every sermon I give is for me. All right? So again, I'm talking to myself here. But consider your example that it is important. If you are harsh towards your children, if you are abusive, if you are not showing them the love and the respect that they deserve as a loving father in this case, consider the fact that you may be a stumbling block to their ability to see God the Father as a loving and a caring and a nurturing father.

If the perception of a child is that a father is harsh and oppressive and abusive and I can't wait to get out from under him, how is that going to be pointing them to God as the Father who desires you to be in their family? Again, the point I want us to consider as we walk through this, when we understand what God is doing for a family, let us make sure we understand what he's given us responsibility to do within the physical family in order to fulfill what it is he's intended. And the father within the family structure can play a huge role in either directing their children towards God or souring them on the concept of a loving father to begin with.

So let us be careful how we treat that relationship. Again, God says, what I'm entering in with you, you can call me Abba Father. Daddy, essentially.

It's a term of close, loving endearment.

The husbands, I would say, if your actions convince your wife that it was a mistake for her to submit her life to you in marriage, maybe because you mistreat her, maybe you lord your authority over her, you know, you must submit to me no matter what, whatever that might be, if your relationship with her isn't as God intended, then she may have a difficult time even seeing Jesus Christ positively and properly in the role of husband whom she must submit to. Again, the church will marry Jesus Christ. We will be the bride of Christ. He will be the husband of the church that loves us and cares for us, and we submit to him. But if we've created husbands such damage in our relationship between us and our wife, we could indeed be a stumbling block to her desire and willingness to even look to another in submission.

So God places very heavy responsibility on fathers, on parents, on husbands, to fulfill their godly role, stewardship, to not be a stumbling block in that way.

To wives, if by your actions you convince your husband that if all he's going to get in return for his love is anything but the same, you know, if he's never good enough, he can never live up to your expectations no matter how hard he tries, he can never earn your love, you know what? He'll withdraw. He'll pull back into himself. He'll put up barriers around and he'll say, you know what? I don't need anybody anyway. And how would that perspective lead him in terms of yielding to God and Christ, who he absolutely does need in order to achieve salvation? So God places us in relationships, in family relationships, because he's building his family, but he gives us instructions how we're to function within the family. And he says, be very careful how you treat one another. Be careful to do what it is I tell you to do.

This is why God tells husbands and wives and parents and children to take their God-given roles and responsibilities seriously. God's given them for a reason. He is building his family and he is seeking godly offspring. Now we can take those same positions and we can use them for good, or we can use them for harm, and ultimately the choice is ours. God isn't going to make the choice for us. The point is we must work together to make those choices for the good in one another's relationships before God. If you recall in the first message, I know I'm taking you back to July now, but I said when a man who puts God first marries a woman who puts God first, who's going to be first in their marriage? That's going to be God. And that is going to be a benefit to their relationship. It's not a cop-out. It's not a short change to marry someone who puts God before you. You want somebody who does that because then they will live with you and treat you and serve you in the way that God expects, not in the way that this world says you ought to be treated.

So when we have a husband and wife living together in that relationship where God is first individually, he will be first in their marriage. Now take that on down the line to children.

When God is first in their marriage, who then must be first in their family?

In terms of their family structure as a whole.

Well, if it's going to be children, if you say children, you know, my children are first, anything they want, you're going to be off the road, off the path, and out into the weeds.

Our children are high priorities. Behind God, behind our commitment to our spouse, or I'll say alongside our commitment to our spouse, our children are of highest priorities in our life. But again, who must be first? Who must be the central focus of those relationships? It must be God. God must be first in our family. He must be first and central to our focus. If indeed we want this family relationship to succeed as God has intended.

So let's look at a few scriptures as kind of close in on the end here. We're going to take a few scriptures on husband and wife relationship, parent-children, children to parent, and I'm not going to spend much time really in each one, but let's get the hint that in the way we interact and fulfill our roles, it has to be with God as the focus in pointing ourselves and our children to Him. Ephesians chapter 5 verse 22, we went through this extensively last time, so I'll just take it briefly. But first of all, here, husbands and wives. Again, with the emphasis of who is the focus? Who is whose direction do we do we place our focus in? You know, husbands, if your wife is first above everything else, then I would say you would shortchange your wife by not putting God first. Ephesians 5 verse 22 says, wives submit to your own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is savior of the body. As I've explained before, this is within the confines of relationships that are functioning as God has established. So the wife submitting to her husband is going to be something that she likes to do and does willingly when her husband is fulfilling his God-ordained roles as has been established. If you're going to be respected, if you're going to be honored, you need to present yourself honorably. Otherwise, your spouse will simply suffer under the oppression of that relationship. Again, verse 23, for husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church, and he is the savior of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let wives be through their own husbands in everything. Verse 25, husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her. Wives, if your husband loves you as Christ loves the church and provides for you in that way and lives according to that godly standard, don't you want to be in subjection to that? And husbands, don't you want your wives support and care in that way? If you do, you need to treat her with the love and the care as Christ towards the church. Verse 26, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that he might present her to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it just as the Lord does the church. Again, the relationship between a husband and wife is intended to reflect a relationship between Christ and the church.

Indeed, an element of the family relationship that God is establishing. And just as Christ leaves the church in a very loving and committed way, having her best interest at heart, so must the husband conduct himself towards his wife. Verse 30, it says, for we are members of his body and of his flesh and of his bones. And for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. Again, I hope we see the principle of this is with God-centered. God is the focus, living in God's way, because God established the family, God established the roles, and he did so for a purpose.

If we understand that God is building his family, and we understand the relationship whereby the church becomes the bride of Christ in that family, then, brethren, you and I should put our best efforts forward in making our marriages work today. It is a physical reflection of what God is doing on a spiritual level. Now, in most cases, marriage leads to children, leads to parenthood, and that's a very wonderful, very joyful thing. It does come with responsibility. And as parents, we then have the obligation to keep God as the central focus of the relationship we have with our children as well. Let's notice Psalm 127. Psalm 127. You can pick it up in verse 3.

Psalm 127, verse 3, says, Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. I'm going to keep hearkening back to the sermonette. I appreciated that foundation very much. A heritage from the Lord. Nothing we have is apart from what God would give us.

God gives us children as a blessing, as a heritage, because he desires godly offspring, those then that would be pointed and directed back to him. Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is his reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. When you think about what a warrior does with an arrow, he puts it in the bow, he points it at a target, and he releases it. And it flies, hopefully, straight and true for the target. So as parents, who have been given the blessing of children to turn back to God as godly offspring, it's like arrows in the hand of a warrior. We instruct them. We care for them. We point them to God. And there comes a point in their life where we release them to live their own lives with the hope and the perspective that they are heading in that direction, that target, that relationship with God and the family of God. Verse 5 says, Happy is the man who has a squiver full of them. They shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate. Again, children are a blessing from God, and we must use that parent-child relationship to direct our life and their focus towards God as well. You can never consider children to be a nuisance or an inconvenience because it's gotten the way of what I'd like to do in this life. Or, you know, just imagine how free I could be or how much more money we could have if we didn't have to spend it on children and raise children. That's not the intent of what God says. He says the focus is, I'm creating my family. That's what you're about as a human being. That is what your spouse is about and your children are about, and it's what you must be about doing yourself. Take these children, teach them why they exist, point them to God, open the door on that relationship. Don't be the stumbling block because of your failure in that role, and let God do the rest as he brings them along according to his spirit. Children are a gift.

Deuteronomy chapter 6, again, instruction for parents towards children.

Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 6.

Here, Israel is now preparing to come up and enter the Promised Land. You're having a reiteration and reminder of God's laws and standards. God says, you remember to keep these things. Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 6.

Again, it's the parents' responsibility within their family to see that their children are set on a course that directs them towards God. See that they acknowledge an understanding of him and who he is and why he created them and the purpose that he is calling them to.

It says to teach them diligently to your children. It's not just, all right, kid, here's a book. Go read and learn. They should read and learn, but that's not the point. The point was teach them talk of it when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up. Life provides opportunities for teaching our children, for directing and pointing them to God. When you're sitting there watching television and the man says to Pat Sajak, would you take my hand, please, Pat? It's an opportunity to direct your children towards God and what he has established and the purpose for their life and the family. Brethren, it's not enough to say that God's way works. As parents, we're given the responsibility to raise our children, but we're also given the responsibility to set the example. And teaching involves much more than simply words. It involves actions. It involves having God's way of life actually working within our relationships. If you want to tell your children that God's way works, you better show them that God's way works because it is working in your life and in your relationship with your spouse and that you put God first and it is a benefit. Otherwise, the whole exercise is academic, right? I can tell you it works, but if I can't show you, what's the point? God's way works, and we need to be an example and a model for godly behavior to our children so that they will see and understand that this is the better way. And they will indeed form their life according to the same standard. Now, to young people, the Bible also contains many instructions for how they must function as well within the family relationship. Let's go back to Ephesians chapter 6.

This is following right on the heels of Ephesians 5, instructions to husbands and wives, and now there's instructions for children here. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 1 says, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. You know, it could be easy just to say, obey your parents. Obey your parents. Obey your parents. Right? That's not exactly fully what it says. It says, children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Again, the focus I'm trying to bring us to is that God-centered must be the direction that we take our families and what will cause our families to function in their roles. Parents and husband and wives together in that way. Parents teaching their children in the way of God. Now children, obeying your parents in the Lord.

If your parent says, go jump off the bridge or go commit a crime, clearly you're not instructed to obey that. You are instructed to obey the godly instruction and the standards for God's way that your parent would set for you. Verse 2, honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with promise that it may be well with you that you may live long on the earth.

That sounds pretty good, doesn't it? A young person, that sounds great. Long life, blessings, abundance. God says, honor your father and your mother. And it's not like you honor your father and your mother, so now here's the huge bank account. But the point is, honor them and it will be a blessing to you. Because if they're following God's standards and principles, and you honor them and live according to those godly standards and principles, your life will work. And the blessings of God will follow. Ultimately, the things that a God-centered parent teaches their children are intended to direct them into a relationship with God for the purpose of realizing their full potential, again, as a part of the spirit family of God. We need to start with our children from the very beginning. From the very beginning, as soon as they can comprehend, tell them why they were born, why they are part of this family, what it is that God has purposed for them, why it is we live this way, and what ultimately is it that God is doing.

Again, like arrows in the hand of a warrior, direct them to that target and you be the example of the proper way of life as well. Brethren, God has called us to represent the family that he is building through our own families today. This process begins with us, physical family, physical family, it's a type, it is a microcosm of what God is doing on a much greater scale.

Put God first. Focus on him. Make him central to your family. It's not always an easy thing to do in this world that's going completely the opposite direction. You know, a lot of ways it can feel like we're swimming upstream against the current of society, and yes, that is true. But, brethren, God will help us. God will bless our efforts in our families if we involve him in our families, and the truth is we must, because the family is a God-ordained establishment, and it will not function as God intended apart from God in the mix. Because, again, this isn't about what we're doing, it is about what God is doing, bringing many sons to glory in his family.

Husbands and wives, pray for God's involvement in your marriage. Submit to one another, but most of all submit to God, and submit to his lead. Parents, pray for God's active involvement between you and your children. And I would say children, pray for God's active involvement between you and your parents in that relationship as well. Seek his blessing.

God is our Father. We are his children, and God is building his divine, eternal spirit family.

That process begins with you and me in the family relationships God has blessed us with.

Let's focus once again on keeping God central to our family relationships today. Indeed, it is the standard that will govern all family relationships, not just those he gives us today, but the family relationship that will be ours for eternity.