Fight For Your Family
Mother's Day • Sermon • Submitted
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· 410 viewsUsing Mother's Day as a catalyst to show the need to defend the traditional family
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Well as we all know, today is Mother’s Day and with that in mind I am going to take a brief one week hiatus from our series in the parables of Jesus to acknowledge this special day
That being said you can never really expect from me what is the norm and so while Mother’s Day is the catalyst for today’s message, it won’t be a traditional, Mom’s Are Great, or Great Moms of the Bible kind of message
Instead I want to focus on a problem that we as Christians are facing
A problem that is both growing in magnitude and in its reach
That problem is the attack blatant present day on the family
Or more specifically on God’s design and plan for the family
Now I have not had a lot to say from the pulpit about this and the primary reason for that is that I realize that I am preaching to the choir as it were, that the group that sits before me shares my values and convictions and so why “waste time” on it
But I really believe that it is time for me to publically and on record defend the Biblical stance on this issue which of course means that some of what I say may be considered politically incorrect by the powers that be
So let me begin by saying that I in no way suggesting any form of discrimination against anyone whose beliefs differ than mine
Just as I do not believe that I should be discriminated against because I hold to the tradition Biblical interpretation of family
Earlier this year our own federal government imposed restrictions on anyone applying for a grant to use federal money to hire a student this summer
The restriction was that anyone who did not agree with and attest to the current government’s view on abortion would not be considered for the funding
I wish that I could say this morning that such actions are completely unexpected and out of step with the rest of society but nothing could be farther from the truth
For years now we have seen an uprising of activism against the idea that family means one man and one woman who get married for life and love and support one another through the ups and downs of raising children
At first it became wrong for Christians to act upon their beliefs with Christian business owners being fined and punished for refusing to make money off of something that went against their beliefs
Then it gradually became wrong just to try and live out those beliefs as your life MUST reflect the values that the moral minority say are correct
And now it has become wrong to even believe such things with the government trying to dictate what it is that we ought to believe
At the rate that things are going, should Jesus tarry, things are only going to get worse, our beliefs, our faith, our families are under attack
In the book of Nehemiah we have the story of its namesake, Nehemiah
Nehemiah was not a prophet or anything of the sort, he was a regular Israelite who was living in captivity because a few generations earlier King Nebuchadnezzar had defeated Israel and left Jerusalem in ruins taking the people back to Babylon
Jump ahead 120 or so years and the Babylonian empire has fallen and several rulers have come and gone with Artaxerxes now sitting on the throne
But back to Nehemiah whose job it was that of cup bearer to the king
In other words it was his job to ensure that nothing bad could happen to the king’s beverage and he would be the first to drink from the cup to prove that it wasn’t poisoned
But God had placed it in his heart to once again build up Jerusalem and to make it the home of the Jews
Chapters 1-3 tell us the story of how that desire came to be and what Nehemiah did to get it started
Now not everyone was excited about this and as Nehemiah began to implement his plan, his enemies rose up in a show of force to try and get it shut down before it got very far
We pick up the story in chapter 4 verse 8
Nehemiah 4:8-
They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.
Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”
Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”
Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
Much like our situation today, Nehemiah was surrounded on every side by his detractors and those who wanted what he was doing to fail, the task ahead of them was monumental and difficult and the people were already tired
So Nehemiah calls together the leaders and gives them a pep talk, let me read it again for you this time from the Living Bible, “Don’t be afraid! Remember the Lord who is great and glorious; fight for your friends, your families, and your homes!”
“Don’t be afraid! Remember the Lord who is great and glorious; fight for your friends, your families, and your homes!”
That’s my message this morning, ‘Don’t be afraid, Remember how great God is and fight for your family’
So then how do we fight for our families in this midst of such a hostile territory
Well let me give you 3 ways
But just before I do that I feel compelled to remind you that our fight is NOT against any particular person or group of people
reminds of this,
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
So this morning I am not trying to politicize any of this but to prepare us to “fight the good fight” () as Paul put it
So the first way that we fight for our families is that we have to put up barriers
The first thing that Nehemiah did was he got started on putting up a wall, verse 6 says
So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.
Now there’s 2 ways that a wall works
First it keeps things out and that’s exactly what we need to do for our families, we need barriers set to keep them safe from all of the garbage and filth that they can be exposed to in this generation
Let me share a few statistics with you from Covenant Eyes, a software company that helps track and block inappropriate internet material
In 2015 there were 2 Billion web searches for pornography
more than 20% of mobile device searches are for pornography
By the time they are 18, 93% of boys and 62% of girls have been exposed to graphic sexual content online
56% of divorces involve one spouse who has an obsessive interest in online pornography
And I could go on but I think you get the picture
As parents and grandparents it is up to us to protect our children/grandchildren from the things out there that can hurt and even destroy them
That means even when it is difficult and uncomfortable for us and lets be honest, talking about and dealing with some of these subject matters is very difficult and embarrassing
It wasn’t easy to build the wall, verse 10 says, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”
But they continued anyway
A wall also keeps people in
While I agree that discipline can go too far, what we are observing today is a lack of discipline where anything and everything is okay and that is not healthy nor is it Godly
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
Boundaries, rules, limits are healthy and so are consequences when those boundaries are breached
If we are going to fight for our families we need to start by putting up some walls
The second way that we can fight for our families is to become defenders
Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows.
Nehemiah 4:13
Dictionary.com defines the term “defender” as “to support an argument, theory etc. in the face of criticism; to prove the validity of a dissertation, thesis, or the like by answering arguments and questions
In Paul says in no uncertain terms, “Knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.”
A defender is a person who makes a defense, who sets up a position to prevent the enemy (or opposing team) from going any farther
Any professional sports team in any sport will tell you that a strong defense is just as important, and maybe even more, than a good offense
Is the Biblical tradition of family worth fighting for?
If so then who will defend it? Who will stand in opposition to those who would challenge what God says and, in the face of criticism, show support for and prove the validity of God’s ways
Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?
Psalm 94:
Unless God’s people who believe that God’s ways are worth fighting for make a stand and say, ‘This far and no farther’ nothing will stop the enemy from his wicked plan
The third thing that we must do if we are to fight for our families is that we must live in victory as examples to them of not only that it CAN be done but that it is worth it
At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.” Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.
Nehemiah served as an example for the people
He practiced what he preached so that they could see in him what was expected of them
In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul admonishes them,
Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.
The reason that I know how to love and respect my wife is because I saw my father demonstrate it daily for me
The reason I know the importance of prayer is because I saw my father pray, even after a 16 hour day at work
And for those of you who may be a little older than I am let me let you in on a little secret, I still learn from my Dad’s example
In fact I still learn from the example of many of you
Jesus called us to be the light of the world, well what does light do? It illuminates
It shows people what was there that they couldn’t otherwise see and that’s what we do by being a living example of Christ, we show them what they couldn’t otherwise see
Today is Mothers Day and I have no doubt that soon we won’t be allowed to even have Mothers Day…or Fathers Day because it will offend somebody who can’t identify with the whole reason the day was set up, to celebrate the God given gift that motherhood is
Before we allow anything like that to happen we need to fight, we need to fight for our families because they are under attack
We need to set up walls to keep them safe
We need to become defenders of the truth so that they know that the truth is worth defending
And we need to live in the victory that is ours as an example for them so that they know what it means to be victorious
The battle will not be easy, the enemy is well entrenched and will not give up just because we want him to
But “Don’t be afraid of him. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
Nehemiah
Let’s pray