Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz19970302.htm

GOD'S RENEWAL FOR HOUSEHOLDS
"Part I: The Core Cause And Cure Of Household Dysfunction"
(Genesis 2:18-4:24; 2 Corinthians 5:17)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

The American family is in great need. Consider these facts:

(1) George Barna, head of the Barna Research Group has conducted and written extensive surveys on today's young "Generation Xers." According to his findings, 67% of this generation defines a family as "any and all individuals whom they deeply care for or who deeply care about them." No demand was made by the group for a birth mother and birth father -- that is considered optional to the unit!

(2) It's no wonder. Roughly half of all weddings performed this year will end in divorce. True, many of those are remarriages, but the divorce rate is at crisis proportions -- America's children know that!

(3) In a kindergarten class this year in a Torrington elementary school, only one boy out of his whole class has both his birth mom and birth father living in the house or apartment where he goes after school!

(4) Tom Brokaw of the NBC Evening News, focusing on "The American Family" in the February 10, 1997 broadcast, showed the clear dearth of fathers in American families. According to his findings, (a) the vast majority of male prisoners in American were n ot raised around a father figure. (b) Also, the dividing line between the "haves" and the "have nots" is being drawn by the factor of fatherhood: those with fathers tend to end up being in the "haves" group where those without them end up in the "have nots " group.

(5) The plague afflicts the Church as well: Dr. James Dobson reported in his November 1996 Focus on the Family newsletter about a letter he received from a girl: she wrote that she had found a porno movie in her father's room, and her father is a pastor! She added that she had just discovered that her boyfriend was gay. She finished, saying, "Sometimes I feel like dying. If someone does kill themselves, do they go to hell for it? My friend hung himself. And my other friends want to or t ried to . . . how do I get suicidal thoughts out of my head?"

(6) After one of her afternoon television talk shows last month, Sally Jesse Raphael noted that comedians today can get a quick laugh by joking about "family values". However, in her opinion, Sally said that the nation's families are in "desperate need" o f some kind of values.

In view of the crisis, where do we BEGIN to solve the many problems in our FAMILIES at the national and local levels today?!

(We turn to the sermon's "Need" section . . . )

Need: "It's no secret that many households are dysfunctional -- I have faced enough family problems myself! We need ANSWERS, so where does one start to find SOLUTIONS for a needy household?!"
  1. To understand where to BEGIN for SOLUTIONS to household dysfunction, we isolate the CAUSE from the Bible as follows:
    1. When God created the first household, it was very wholesome!
      1. Genesis 1:26-27 records the creation of the first family unit, a husband and wife named Adam and Eve, cf. Gen. 2:7; 3:20.
      2. That family unit was a very wholesome one, Genesis 1:31a.
    2. However, when sin against GOD entered, all of the household crises we now face arose as a result as we can show from Genesis 3-4:
      1. Marital problems arose out of sin against God:
        1. Spousal gender roles turned stressful: (a) Men were created to lead and women to help them, (Adam's naming Eve and ANE culture, Gen. 2:20-23). (b) Yet, Satan tempted Eve via the world's lusts (the body, the eyes and pride) to lead Adam to disobey God, and Adam yielded to her (3:1-6, 17). (c) As this role inversion opposed God's healthy order, and with sin came a sin nature making this role inversion habitual for couples (Rom. 5:12-14), God caused women to have an insatiable NEED for their husbands, enforcing their created gender roles, 3:16d! (d) Now, if men take advantage of this insatiablity or women repress it defensively, the proverbial "battle of the sexes" rages!
        2. The functions of spouses soured: (a) God created Eve from Adam's rib, and brought her to him when both were naked; this showed that marital fulfillment was to be found by functioning in monogamous, heterosexual, permanent, sexually intimate unions, Gen. 2:20-25. (b) Yet, sin distorted man's outlook on marital functions, leading either to relationship inhibitions (Gn. 3:6-7) or spousal abuse, 4:1,17-18, 23. (c) Then divorce, remarriage (Dt. 24:1-4) and finally deviant sexual unions arose, Gen. 19:4-9.
      2. Household Problems arose out of sin against God:
        1. In resisting God's outlook, Adam's son, Cain let his sin nature grow hate toward his brother until he killed him, Gn. 4:1-5, 6-8.
        2. Because of this murder, Cain was parted from his parents, starting tensions between groups of families, Gen. 4:11-12, 16.
      3. The progress of sin against God undermined man's entire society:
        1. Adult males were created by God with a drive to equip them to thrust out in travel to develop earth's resources, Gen. 2:8-15!
        2. Now, Cain was pressed by God to need others to raise his food to hold his murderous aggression in check by humility, 4:11-16.
        3. Yet, Cain's sons built enclosed cities away from open farms; then they could protect themselves and make and trade goods and services for food without interrelating humbly, 4:17-22.
        4. Well, living in cramped cities with arrogant attitudes & lacking good parenting (i.e., Cain who sired them) to direct their male drives well, Cain's sons became brutal toward others, 4:23-24.
        5. As it was then so it is now: unbridled male brutality in growing, congested cities led to violence that ruined the world, 6:1-13!
  2. Thus, man's SIN against GOD must be addressed for household renewal, and by grace, God HIMSELF has made provision for this!
    1. God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die on the cross as man's sinbearer to absorb God's punishment against his sin, John 3:16; 1 Peter 2:24.
    2. God then pronounces righteous and makes spiritually anew anyone who believes on Christ for salvation, Rom. 3:23-26; 2 Cor. 5:17!
    3. Thus made anew, one is outfitted by God to live constructively in his household role in place of his former harmful manner as follows:
      1. First, God has given the believer His Holy Spirit to make him want and do what is helpful in his domestic role opposite the harmful will and do lures of Satan (1 Jn. 2:14), worldly lusts (1 Jn. 2:15-17) and his own sin nature (Ro. 7:15-8:4), Gal. 5:16-23; Phil. 2:12-13.
      2. Second, if the believer sins, that sin blocks the Spirit's enpowering, so he must confess his sin to God for cleansing for the Spirit to RESUME living out righteousness in him, Gal. 5:16-23; 1 Jn. 1:9.
      3. Third, 2 Tim. 3:16-4:2a instructs that the Bible has all the insight the believer needs to keep his outlook correct so he can acquire household renewal! In the coming 29 Bible lessons , we will show in detail God's outlook useful for acquiring a renewed household.
Application: Since SIN is the ROOT of dysfunction in a household, start to address household problems by (1) believing on Christ for salvation from sin to be made ANEW by God, John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:17. (2) Then, (a) if we sin, confess it to God for cleansing, 1 John 1:9, and (b) depend upon God's indwelling Spirit for the will and th e power to function well in a household, Gal. 5:16-23. (c) Then apply the Bible's correct outlook on functioning well for household renewal! (We will teach this Bible outlook in the next 29 sermons!)

Lesson: Since SIN is the core of all household dysfunction, to BEGIN the renewal of a household, its INHABITANTS must get right with GOD!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

 Judge Charles D. Gill, writing an article in the October 31, 1994 issue of the Torrington Register-Citizen, downplayed the significance of the 30.2 billion-dollar Crime Bill of 1994. Judge Gill wrote: "I can safely predict that this bill will have little or no effect upon crime or violence in America . . . The truth is that the fear of punishment does not even really deter you and me from committing crimes. Our values do. Those without values are deterred by nothing."

We couldn't agree more with Judge Charles D. Gill.

We offer the only way that those values can truly change -- faith in Christ. Here's evidence (McDowell, A Ready Defense, p. 449ff):

By 1970, B. J. Thomas had made 13 million dollars as a singer. By 1976, despite selling 32 million records including "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," used in the hit movie "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," he was in debt to the tune of $800,000! His $3,000 a week cocaine habit had robbed his money, ruined his marriage to Gloria and had almost cost him his life. In fact, he barely recalls recording the famous song, "Raindrops" due to being so spaced out on drugs.

Finally, at the end of his rope where he was so saturated with drugs that he couldn't sleep anymore, B. J. called Gloria, thinking that maybe he could get a little sleep if she would let him come home. Recently, Gloria had changed and often called him, sa ying, "There's help here," without explaining what help was meant.

When he arrived he discovered Gloria had made a personal commitment to Christ as her Savior -- the last subject that B. J. wanted to discuss! However, being introduced to Jim Reeves who had led Gloria to Christ, and visiting with his family, B. J. noticed their great peace. He was attracted to it, and prayed to receive Christ.

B. J. Thomas raised his head from praying and saw Jim Reeves and his wife crying for joy, and he was himself so relieved that he started jumping around the room! He stopped taking all of his drugs, expecting to suffer withdrawal symptoms. There were none !

That was January 29, 1976, the start of the new B. J. Thomas.



Family-saving values? They come by Christ. The change in B. J. Thomas proclaims it. Every member of every household in America needs the gift he received -- salvation by faith in Christ!