July 26, 1998 - LESSON: Ephesians 2:17-20, NRSV

SERMON TITLE: Family

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INTRODUCTION:

  1. I have been invited to speak to the Mukwonago Area Women's Club.
    1. I was asked what I would like to talk about.
    2. I said the family.
    3. The chairperson of the program committee wanted a title.
    4. I offered her, "Building Better Families."
  2. What do I know about families?
    1. Do I need to remind you.
      1. The oldest of six children from three marriages.
      2. Divorced with two children.
      3. Married with two stepchildren.
      4. Six grandchildren.
    2. Working with families for many years.
      1. No formal education in families.
      2. Plenty of on the job training.
    3. A preacher's kid
      1. Part of an extended family, called the church
      2. With all its implications, benefits and liabilities.

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MAIN BODY:

  1. If you had the opportunity to talk about the family, what would you say?
    1. What would you offer
    2. Would you like to give me some ideas.
  2. I have a few things that I believe need to be emphasized.
    1. One: Teach children to live with boredom.
      1. Article, Kids must to be taught to live with boredom
    2. Two: Teach children to live with delayed gratification.
      1. We need to learn that people are going to say "no," to us.
        1. We may not get what it is that we immediately want.
      2. We do not need to have everything at once.
    3. Three: Teach the children to employ non-violent ways to resolve your problems, but fight, if necessary.
      1. This is a corollary of the first two.
    4. Four: Learn to live with one another with love; not in love, but with love.
      1. Love does no harm
      2. Patience, kindness, etc.
    5. We are a part of a family
    6. This is what we ought to be teaching
      1. To adults
      2. And to children.

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  3. We are also members of God's household and people of faith
    1. (Matthew 12:47-50 NRSV) Someone told him, "Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you." [48] But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" [49] And pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! [50] For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
      1. Not father
      2. God is his father.
    2. (Galatians 6:10 NRSV) So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.
      1. Household of the faith.
      2. The Christian faith.
      3. Christianity provides guidelines that help know how we ought to live and relate.
      4. Christianity also provides restrictions for the family to help them in their relationships.
    3. (Ephesians 2:19 NRSV) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,
      1. Being a member of the household of faith enables one to be a member of the household of God.
      2. This is a great and rare privilege.
      3. It is granted now to all who claim it.
      4. It is ultimately granted only to those who live up to God's expectations.
      5. This are not difficult.
        1. It means living God's way
        2. Not our own way.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. Glen Martin, in Beyond the Rat Race relates how David McCasland helped a woman whose car was stalled at an intersection:(1)
    1. The car's hood was up, and the woman flagged down McCasland to help.
      1. "I can't get it started," she said, "but if you jiggle the wire on the battery, I think it will work."
      2. McCasland grabbed the positive battery cable and it came off in his hand. The cable was definitely too loose.
    2. "The terminal needs to be tightened up," he told her. "I can fix it if you have some tools."
      1. "My husband says to just jiggle the wire," she replied. "It always works. Why don't you just try that?"
      2. McCasland paused for a moment, sarcastically wondering to himself why her husband didn't ride around town with her so he would be available when the wire needed jiggling.
    3. Finally he said, "Madam, if I jiggle the wire, you're going to need someone else to do it every time you shut the engine off. If you'll give me two minutes and a wrench, we can solve the problem and you can forget about it."
    4. Reluctantly, she fumbled under the front seat and then extended a crescent wrench through the window of the old car.
    5. As he tightened the battery terminal, it occurred to McCasland how many times he had tried, in his own life, to get a "quick fix" from God.
    6. "I have this problem, Lord, and if you'll just jiggle the wire, things will be OK. I'm in a hurry, so let's just get me going again the quickest way possible."
    7. But God doesn't want to "jiggle wires," does he?
    8. He wants to take the time necessary to deal with our real problem and fix it.
      1. He has given us the tools.
      2. He has provided a set of instructions.

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    9. To get the long-term solution to the pressing needs in our lives requires a working with God and a willingness to proceed on his terms.
      1. We must cooperate with him in whatever it takes, for as long as it takes.
    10. As the lady drove away with her tightened terminal, McCasland stopped for a moment and asked the Lord to say "No" the next time he asks God to just jiggle a wire.
  2. We are a family.
    1. We have spent too much time jiggling the wires.
    2. It's about time we tightened up the wires.
      1. This is not my responsibility.
      2. It is not the parents responsibility.
      3. It is the responsibility of us all.
  3. So if you could offer a suggestion to communicate ways in which to build better families family, what would it be?

1. Glen Martin, Beyond the Rat Race (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995), 156.

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