A pastor declared that a Christian family should "serve the Lord" and never "forsake the Lord to serve other gods" (Joshua 24:15-16) in a sermon delivered in Beijing Zaidao Church on May 14, 2017.
Citing Joshua 24:14-17, the pastor shared the principles for Christian families and marriage to follow and also illustrated what a Christian family is.
Below is the outline of the sermon:
What is a Christian family?
1. Principle for the master of the house and other family members:
"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."(Ephesians 5:21)
2. Principle for husband and wife:
"Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior."(Ephesians 5:22-23)
3. Principle for parents and children:
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 'Honor your father and mother'-which is the first commandment with a promise- 'so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.'
Fathers,do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." (Ephesians 6:1-4)
4. Principle for masters and slaves:
"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart.Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people, because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do, whether they are slave or free.
And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him."(Ephesians 6:5-9)
How to transform into a Christian family?
1. Adhere to the Christian marriage principles:
" Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
'I will live with them and walk among them,and I will be their God, and they will be my people.' "(2 Corinthians 6:14-16)
2. Invite Christ to be the ruler of your family:
"When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, 'What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?' So they sent word to Joseph, saying, 'Your father left these instructions before he died: "This is what you are to say to Joseph: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly." Now please forgive the sins of the servants of the God of your father."' When their message came to him, Joseph wept.
His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. 'We are your slaves,' they said.
But Joseph said to them, 'Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don't be afraid. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them."(Genesis 50:15-21)
3. Insist on family worship:
"The Lord appeared to Abraham and said, 'To your offspring I will give this land.' So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord." (Genesis 12:7-8)
4. Lead your family to practice their faith:
"Leaving the next day, we reached Caesarea and stayed at the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the Seven. He had four unmarried daughters who prophesied."(Acts 21:8-9)
The examples of Christian families:
1. The jailer and his household followed Jesus and served the apostles: "He then brought them out and asked, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?'
They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved-you and your household.' Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God-he and his whole household." (Acts 16:30-34)
2. The family of Martha served the Lord Jesus: "Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint[a] of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume." (John 12:1-3)
3. Group gathering in the house of Mary: "Then Peter came to himself and said, 'Now I know without a doubt that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's clutches and from everything the Jewish people were hoping would happen.'
When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, 'Peter is at the door!' " (Acts 12:11-14)
4. The Aquilas worked with Paul: "After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. " (Acts 18:1-3)
Translated by Karen Luo
