Date:      10th August 2008                                                                  (Sunday AM)                                                                       Ref: A0397

Place:     Kambah P.S.

Title: The Flow of Authority

Text:        & 1 Peter 3:1-7

Illust:     The Fijian Ministry of Health is targeting a goal of greater acceptance and understanding of metal illness within the local society to stop the stigma that is associated with it. Just recently they launched the 'Stop Stigma against Mental Illiness - Dare to Care' campaign at Ratu Sukuna Park.  The aim is to enable patients and the community to work together and seek prompt medical assistance and support.  – Global problem of mental illness. – Big issue in Australia with a frightening rise in cases of children with learning difficulties, ADD, Autism and the like. – Why is this?

I.                   A Functioning Unit

A.               Godly Order

i.                 Fundamental laws of physics, - gravity – If I drop something it falls to the ground – you won’t see it go up. - God is sovereign, that means He is on the throne, He created all creation. He sets the rules. The physical laws of the universe & the moral laws.

ii.               One of the laws that God sets out as unchangeable as gravity is the order that He ordains for the home. – The father is to be the head of the home,

         1 Corinthians 11:3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. (NKJV)

           The Father is called to be the head of the home.

           Wives are to be submitted to the authority of the husband – & vs 1

         Ephesians 5:22-24 22 Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Savior of the body. 24 Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. (NKJV)

           Not a tyrant & vs.7

         Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, (NKJV)

iii.             The husband & wife are to be in relationship with each other, then the children are submitted to father & mother.

         Matthew 19:5 ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’ ? (NKJV)

B.               Wrong Order

i.                 One of the major problems in many cultures & societies is the problem of the derelict father. The father who is not taking his responsibility as the head of the home seriously. – As a result the home is out of order. – Some reasons for this;

           Laziness: - Lazy husbands. Men that don’t want to take the responsibility to lead. It’s too much hassle, easier to led the wife lead. Rather sit & watch the Rugby on the TV, head out with the friends to drink kava / grog  ~ Laziness

         1 Timothy 5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (NKJV)

           Weakness: - Another problem is that some males, have never learn’t to be MEN. Not just males. – Strong women & weak Men who let their wives lead, don’t want to rock the boat, afraid of her. – Weak

           Ignorance: Then there is ignorance. Just never thought about who should be leading the home. Never been told / taught. – Maybe grew up in a home where momma ruled. Didn’t know any better. Didn’t understand that they would be held accountable by God.

ii.               Problem with this is that when the husband for whatever reason fails to lead, the Wife rises up to be the head of the home.  ~  I know very competent women, problem is that no matter how competent, how diligent they are – God did not intend for you, your mother to be the head of the home.

iii.             Understand that God holds the husband accountable – If you are not leading your home is out of order. – Not a light matter. - Consequences

II.                 Consequences

A.               An Open Door

i.                 Need to understand that we cannot live in an environment that is out of order, God’s order & expect everything to work – sad fact that when the God ordained order is not being followed in the home – tragic consequences

ii.               If you think about it when the husband is not leading, this is disobedience to God, disobedience is rebellion is sin. – Sin brings a curse

iii.             Opens a door for the devil to assault the home, the children – Amazing coincidence that as more & more men fail to lead in the homes, more & more women suffer from sickness that is related to anxiety, bitterness & unforgiveness, and children are suffering from more learning disability and anxiety related problems

B.               Unresolved Personal Problems

i.                 Mental illness a global problem, Health departments of nations spending billions globally on programs to help the mentally ill. Like the 'Stop Stigma against Mental Illiness - Dare to Care'

      Harry Milt, Director of Public Information for the National Association for Mental Health, in a pamphlet entitled “How to Deal With Mental Problems,” provides a typical sample of this sort of propaganda when he says, “Sympathetic understanding, the kind you give to a person when he is sick with a physical illness” is what the mentally ill person must have. He continues: You make allowances because you know he’s sick, that he can’t help his sickness, that he needs your sympathy and understanding. The person with a mental problem is also sick and most of the time he can’t help it either.[1]

ii.               But is this right, is this a correct Biblical view. It is interesting that you find very little about mental illness in the Bible. – Actually what we see when we look at people who today would be diagnosed as mentally ill – Saul is a perfect example – The problem is sin / disobedience to Gods’ laws. – Jay Adams writes

      Apart from organically generated difficulties, the “mentally ill” are really people with unsolved personal problems.[2]

iii.             Maybe you look back on your childhood, maybe your father was passive or even violently aggressive, - failed to lead. How can this play out in your life:

           Psychological disorders: Bipolar / manic depressive / multiple personality

           Anger related disease: Strokes, Aneurisms & Autism

           Learning Disabilities: Dyslexia / ADD, ADHD, Epilepsy

           Autoimmune Disease Type 1 Diabetes / Fibromylagia (acute pain / severe fatigue).

iv.             The order in your home is not just a lifestyle choice, It is a choice with consequences maybe in your life, maybe in your children’s lives. – This is a generational issue that can bring about generational inherited curses   ~  Must be dealt with

III.              Walking in Gods Order

A.               Realignment

i.                 For healing to begin, God’s order must be established in your home. Husbands you must lead your homes, wives you must submit to your husbands leadership allow him to lead

ii.               Your children need you to love one another, and to know that you love them. – Studies have shown that Children are more secure in a home where they see that mum & dad love each other than where there is conflict but both pour out love on the children.

iii.             If you grew up in a home where a Godly order was never established & you realise now that this is why maybe you are carrying this bitterness, anxiety, anger then you need to be assured that there is hope tonight in Jesus Christ.

B.               Freedom

i.                 No matter what the curse, no matter what the issue. Jesus Christ is able to heal, to deliver, to restore. – Our God is the restorer

         Zechariah 9:12 Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today I declare That I will restore double to you. (NKJV)

ii.               We have hope as we repent of our own disobedience as we humbly come to Jesus and ask Him to heal to deliver us from our mistakes & our past that He does heal, that He restores.

iii.             Need to recognise that maybe your home is out of order, maybe it was out of order as you were growing up. – Husbands / wives you need to repent of your disobedience. Maybe you need to repent of your bitterness that your parents didn’t have their home in order.

iv.             Finally take responsibility to be in alignment. – I will be the head of the home, I will let my husband lead. My parents were not perfect but I am going to walk in the deliverance of the blood of Jesus.

IV.             Altar Call

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[1]Adams, J. E. (1986], c1970). Competent to counsel : Introduction to nouthetic counseling. Reprint. Originally published: Phillipsburg, N.J. : Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co., c1970. (4). Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resources Library.

[2]ibid