Download I remember distinctly the first time I changed a diaper

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The Gospel and Family Life (Genesis 1:26-31)
After the birth Mandy and Clare were at the hospital overnight. Luke and I were bachelors. So
we went to the shoppette to get some ice cream and then watch a couple of manly episodes of
Thomas the Tank engine. Ahead of us in line were these three girls between the ages of 11-13.
A shiver went through my spine. I thought of all the things that go into having a girl. The
clothes, the hair, the boys, etc. Afterwards, I thought this is always what it is like to have a kid.
There is various fluids from various locations coming at you 24 hours a day for at least the 1 st
two years of the kids life. Then there is the fear of them getting hurt as they age. High school
and dating are a nightmare. What is God doing with families? You wonder when God gave the
command to our first parents that they should be fruitful and multiply if he understood just how
difficult it is. I am quite sure he did. I think it is precisely the joy and difficulty of family life
that God had in mine when he gave this joyous command to Adam & Eve. Things are changing
in regards to our culture and its perception of families. For a variety of reasons economic,
social, and vocational the large family of today is looked upon as some pre scientific relic.
Today I want to talk to you about family and the gospel. I know for many of you are child
raising days are far behind you. What can be said about biological families can be seen in any
number of relationships. More importantly this sermon is an exercise in how think as Christians
about the major events in our lives.
One of my favorite things to do with children is to as they age pick out the feature they have
and tie them back to their parents. He/She may have moms eyes, dad’s nose, granddad’s big
feet. We all love to see ourselves in our children, even in their personality. All of this is true.
Our children are in large part genetic combinations of us But there is a bigger and more
profound reflection that gets to the heart of who children are. They are not just reflections of
you. They are the image of God. God made the first man in his image. Each child that is born
from man is not just a reflection of man but an image of God.
The Image
What does this mean for us? How does man reflect the image of God? God created man with
personhood, creativity, and reason. Each individual even the atheist is unique, creative. He has a
will that can make decisions. Monkeys do not paint. They do not love in the way that human
beings do. Frogs do not write frog poetry to young frog lovers. Animals build shelters, not
homes. They do not hang a Monet in their living rooms to add a touch of beauty. Man is unique
in his creative ability, his rationality, and his capacity to love. This is not limited to the believer.
The atheist who creates wonderful works of art, music, or technology, in his very rebellion still
reflects something of God in him. To remove the image of God in man is to remove man
There is no greater complement when you have a great parent and someone says you remind me
of your father. What better statement can be made for us than to say you remind me of Jesus, in
the way we serve, love, and create beautiful things.
Idols or Icons?
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In Genesis 2:15 God gives man this command: he says that man is to work & keep the land.
That sounds like farmer language. It is and it isn’t. It is actually priestly language. God tells the
Priests in Deuteronomy to work in the temple and to keep it. God is saying to Adam & Eve that
the whole of the world is the temple of God and they it is our job to work and keep it. Here is
where it gets really interesting. Does anyone know the 2nd commandment? No idols, but who
served in the temples? Who was in the temple? Humans. There are no idols in the temple, but
there are images of God that fill the temple Human beings. We were supposed to be the things
that reflected God’s image in the world. Pagans made wood, stone, and brick. The people of
God made children.
We are God representatives, not just in a building, but in the world. It is only in light of all that
that we understand the command to be fruitful and multiply. God is commanding his 1 st
children to fill the world with images of himself. He is like an artist who is saying I want my
work in every living room on the planet. Unless we understand that children are not
fundamentally about us or what we want, but rather about God and his image we will never
recover the correct understanding of families. God never told people to reproduce because it
was an agrarian society and so he was concerned about farming the land. It was about his image
in the world. This is especially true for the people of God. There is no greater gift you can give
to the world than your children. The problem in the world is not over population. There is
more than enough food in the world to feed the hungry. The problem is no one will share it.
What the world needs is the children of God- Rom. 8:19. Of course there is no guarantee that
our kids will do any of this. The chance is better if they are raised in a home with God at the
center rather than with him on the side. This is necessary in every generation. Our jobs, our
homes, all of this will come and go. What these children become is of supreme importance.
This is not just the job of the parents. I am going to say a few things here. I never had a
biological dad, but I had a bunch of men who cared for me. I even had extra moms. Just because
God does not bless us with children it does not mean that we have no role to play. God only has
one natural son, all the rest of us are adopted. Many of us have friends with kids. Whose home
will be the one that they flock to?
We have a children’s ministry and childcare that is perpetually understaffed Why? We do not
value it. We think that real church happens here. That cannot be less true. What does the
gospel say? Allow the little children to come unto me. In the next few weeks we will be
hosting a program with little children here on Saturday morning. They will need people to read
with them and assist in a variety of ways. Is it worth your time? Until we value children’s
ministry with our time it will always be hampered.
Children and Society
Our society does not think of children as reflections of God, but as extensions of our own need
for completion. “I have always wanted a boy and a girl and a dog.” Putting the pieces of a life
together that we think will bring us joy. We have this image in our heads of what they must be
and do and not what God has created them to do. One summer I was a ref and tea ball. You
would have thought that it was the world series the way they yelled and screamed. I taught. I
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saw parents who push and push their kids. Are children more afraid of failing their parents or
failing God? I mean who are we trying to impress? What image are they striving for? What
values have led to our decisions about family? A society that values the maintenance of a
certain lifestyle is going to make certain decisions about family. A community of faith that
operates on a totally different plan is going to make others. Children are not just about us. They
are God’s gift through us to the future.
Children and discipleship
Children however are more than God’s gift through us to the world. They are also God’s gift to
us.
Children are a means of discipleship. Often when we think of discipleship we think of the
acquisition of information about God. We think that if we know the bible better we are
automatically made better Christians. Discipleship is the process by which we are made more
like Christ. When you read the gospels Jesus does not just sit the disciples down and tell these
are all the things you need to know to be a Christian. No he had them live, travel, eat, and
minister with him. It is through living with Jesus and learning his ways that they became
disciples. What did they learn? The Jesus came not to serve, but to be served and to give his
life as a ransom for many. Now if that is not parenting I do not know what is. When you raise
children you give the entirety of your young life to your children.
This hit the other day, I was thinking okay when I was single, I thought if I could just find a
wife who could make me happy then all of my problems would be solved. Then I got married. I
understood that it is not about her service of me, but my service of her. I had to learn to die to
my own needs. She had to learn to die to hers. Through that we find real joy. I adjusted to
being second. We have each other in this marriage. We go on trips to Rome, England, the
Virgin Islands. We go out to restaurants, all that easy stuff you do when you do not have
children. Then Luke came. Travel become more difficult. All decisions are made according to
sleep schedules and stroller access. The pictures change. There is a third person there in our
lives. Now there is a fourth member of our family. Now it is not even about you and your wife.
It is about the children. But you see now you are learning the heart of God. Jesus came not to
be served, but serve to give his very life as a means to have a new life. Children, I say this with
utmost sincerity, are a form of crucifixion.
Getting puked on, changing diapers, being at the whim of a baby who cries for hours and
hours.
Not to mention the pregnancy and the struggles to get pregnant. Need I mention again to the
teenage years? How many moments have you had when you felt like Jesus? God let this pass.
How many times have you felt utterly overwhelmed and dependent on God? I know my mom
wore out many of a carpet praying for me. You see you are not only a means of salvation for
your children. Your children are a means of salvation for you. This gift is even for the
nonbeliever. It is like God is teaching us all selflessness, through marriage and children. He is
telling man over and over again IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU. I bet they never would have
expected experiencing so much joy from someone else’s success. Through dying to the world
you thought you could create, you embrace the one that is the gift of God. Family teaches us the
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gospel. God created us, loved us perfectly. We rejected him. yet he still woos us. We love our
kids as best as we can, but sometimes we feel the pain of that rejection.
There is so much about myself that I never would have learned except through becoming a
husband and a father. It is through living in community that our real selves come out. There is a
reason that one prime metaphor for the church is the family of God. Everything that I have said
about family can be said about the church. In the end children are not transformed by our
perfection. They are changed, by the fact that despite our failing as a family, you walk the road
to being more like Christ. This involves repentance, patience, kindness, etc. God has given you
a captive audience to watch you grow in him.
What are you showing them? This is not just for families with kids. God has a unique plan for
each of us. If you are struggling with reproduction issues your marriage is not less whole.God
called each of us to be disciple makers. These were his last words for us. If God has given you
the maternal or paternal heart use it. There are many opportunities for you to use your gifts to
love children who have no parents to care for them. This does not make it any less real. If so
then our adoption in Christ is not real. Then the fact that the bible says that we are all brothers
and sisters is not real. God gave you that heart for a reason- use it! This the call that I am giving
to the church
Today our Sunday school, kids camp, childcare issues come to an end. These children all of
them are God’s gift to us. So what are children? They are God’s gift to the future through us.
They are icons, images of god in the world. They are not fulfillments of our needs. They are a
means of discipleship. A source of pain & joy that teaches us what it means when Christ says
that he came to serve. So let us with joy create, serve, and care for our children. Let us also
care for whatever Child God places in our way because to them belong the kingdom of heaven.