Sunday, May 17, 2020

Reuniting the Herd

 
We all know people who grew up in church, and have now departed, want nothing to do with church.  This verse does not constitute some magical formula, like a magic wand you can wave to make sure your children don’t act like heathens.  The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, understood that:
We must not imagine that these words are to be understood in an absolute sense, as if no child that had been trained up in the way wherein he should go had ever departed form it….The words, then, must be understood with some limitation, and then they contain an unquestionable truth. It is a general, though not a universal, promise.
Even modern-day sociologists and psychologists verify this, that we are largely products of our environmental and sociological influences – the way we are raised, and those influences to which we are subjected.
The verse Solomon wrote does not mean to say exposing children to the right path guarantees they’ll never get off it.  Rather it alerts us to the strength of that path, and how the teaching will never leave the children.  It will call to them, call them back to  the path all their lives. 
That is the power of example…which is about 150% of parenting.
After church and the baptism of his baby brother, the four-year-old little guy cried all the way home.  His father asked him three times, Johnny, what’s wrong?  Finally Johnny replied, when that man bapatized Christopher he told you an' Mom God wanted him an’ me raised in a Christian home; but I wanna stay with you guys.
So…what is the right path?  Scripture  does not leave us wanting.  Solomon also wrote about that path of living well and right, understanding life’s choices:
These are the wise sayings of Solomon, David’s son, Israel’s king— Written down so we’ll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it’s going; A manual for living, for learning what’s right and just and fair; To teach the inexperienced the ropes and give our young people a grasp on reality.  There’s something here also for seasoned men and women, still a thing or two for the experienced to learn— Fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate, the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women.  Start with God—the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.  Pay close attention, friend, to what your father tells you; never forget what you learned at your mother’s knee. Proverbs 1:1 - 8 (TMSG)
A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense.  Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.  The wise are mightier than the strong, and those with knowledge grow stronger and stronger.  So don’t go to war without wise guidance; victory depends on having many advisers.  Proverbs 24:3 - 6
A Christian (Biblical) home is set-up by parental example of wisdom, strengthened by good sense and filled with everything you need by Godly knowledge.  John Wesley’s wisdom painted that very picture with four main areas of focus he claimed would build a healthy Christian life.  In recent years this has come to be known as the Wesleyan quadrilateral.
The picture shows the four focus areas.  Of these, please note Scripture is on top, meaning it is more heavily weighted than the others.  Really, in Wesley’s thought, Scripture governed the others.  That is to say, the other three could not be considered over Scripture, and any tradition, experience, or human reasoning must square with Scripture in order to be valid for the Christian home.  God’s Word is our main guide.
When it comes to building a home with wisdom, there is nothing which truly expresses family values than the Scriptures, reinforced by loving parents, who exhibit in their living, reason, the tradition of the church and knowledge, formed by experiential learning of Christ’s way.
This morning I want to talk about how living out these principles is the key to establishing, strengthening, growing a family, and, during times of crisis, gathering and reuniting the herd of God’s sheep, rather than scatter them.
Along the way we will also see how to acquire and activate what Solomon calls “wisdom, good sense and knowledge”.

I.                    Wisdom (reason)

Acquired by reverence for God
For the reverence and fear of God are basic to all wisdom. Proverbs 9:10a (TLB)
True wisdom is not merely the accumulation of a great deal of information, or even knowing where it’s stored.  Anyone with an iPhone™ and an internet connection has more information at his fingertips than he could possibly read in a thousand lifetimes.
True wisdom is discernment, the ability to judge between right and wrong, good, and best.  It is, in part, being able to sense the will and heart of God.  Without this kind of wisdom we can miss the mark so often.  Truly worshiping God brings you close enough to hear his heartbeat; you know when God is speaking.
Activated by a life of prayer
If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.  James 1:5 (NRSV)
There is no PhD required to be a person of wisdom.  I’ve known some people who had a lifetime pursuit of education but had little (if any) Godly discernment.  Opposite of that, I can give you quite a list of folks who hardly made it through elementary grades, yet other people beat a pathway to their door for advice when they were facing tough decisions in their lives.
No matter what your formal education level, ask God for wisdom and show Him you’re serious by reverencing Him in worship, establishing a lifestyle of prayer.  You will find that discernment becomes that internal growing sense of confidence in God’s ways.

II.              Good sense (tradition)

The tradition of the church (as Wesley called it) is that counsel of wisdom developed over the last 20 centuries.  Good sense in the original language gives a word picture of the strong steering ropes attached to the rudder of a large ship[1].  With those ropes (tradition) the helmsman (God) brings the ship safely to port.
But good sense finds itself constantly engaged in a battle with foolishness.  That is something with which we struggle because of our inherited human nature, which includes both a proclivity toward good and a carnal appetite for evil. 
In every generation foolishness says the church is out of date, too constricting or judgmental.  But the tradition of the church is that hard-earned wisdom from suffering centuries of immature folly – when Christian saints fall-away from God’s Word and way, only to experience the heartache of the consequences of sin. 
Tradition became the developed memory of believers who saw how departing from God’s way is dangerous and keeping God’s way is profitable.  How do you get “good sense”?
Acquired by counsel of the body of Christ
Pay close attention, friend, to what your father tells you; never forget what you learned at your mother’s knee.  Proverbs 1: 8 (TMSG)
Father and mother refer to more than our biological parents; it includes those who are father and mother in the faith…and brothers and sisters.  The body of Christ – the church, this church and the worldwide Christian church take counsel together to understand the mind of Christ.  This is the good sense that is wise counsel.
Activated by submission in the body of Christ
This kind of “good sense” is available to those who, in faith, take a step of confidence towards the body.  In short, becoming a full part of God’s church – membership, declaring your allegiance and support-for/continued prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness; this is how you initiate the wise counsel of God’s church in your life.
Our youngest daughter, Carrie, and her husband, Shannon, moved back to Florida about 15 years ago.  They didn’t wait long to unite with a church and immerse themselves in the life of that congregation, seeking not only friendship with other believers, but accepting the counsel of their pastor and fellow church members. 
Several years ago Carrie posted on Facebook a picture of her sons delivering flowers to residents at the nursing home.  Shannon is a deacon-servant in their church; he and Carrie are committed to visiting those in distress and sharing God’s Word.  He is training his sons to do these things too.  They understand they do this because Jesus gave to us this ministry of care for each other.  That is the tradition of the church.  My son in law is bringing wise counsel to the table to build his house with wisdom!





III.        Knowledge (experience)

Godly knowledge is what fills the house with what’s worthwhile.  In the Wesleyan sense, experiential faith is that which God teaches you as you live your life for (and with) Him.  It is also called The Surrendered Life. 
The Apostle Paul wrote:
That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;  Philippians 3:10(KJV)
To know him…this is the essence of knowledge, or knowing God, through fellowship with Christ.  This is what fills your life and household with precious treasure…knowing Jesus Christ!
Acquired by investment in relationships
True experiential knowledge of Christ is found in a daily conversation with Him, and others.  When asked about the greatest (most important) of the commandments, Jesus said it was to love God with everything you’ve got…and the second was to love others.  Think of it as the vertical (up towards God) and horizontal (outward towards people) of knowledge – loving God, loving neighbors.
Genuine, precious treasure is never measured by your performance on a job, or how much money you have in the bank.  Rather it is that daily conversation, or interaction (with God and man) that makes investment in other lives. 
Knowing God results in every other kind of understanding. Proverbs 9:10b(TLB)
Activated by accepting Christ as lord of life
Knowing Christ is something that happens in your spirit…deep in your spirit.  And it is begun by choosing to follow Christ as a disciple.  It goes beyond merely knowing “about” Christ, or just accepting the fact that He is God’s son who was born in a manger…all those facts are easily “knowable”, information-wise. 
To genuinely know (experience) Jesus Christ as Savior is to choose Him as Lord over life…your life!  It means you choose to follow Him every day of your life, on His terms.
It means to surrender your free will to God’s sovereign will.  A wise leader in the home will teach that to the children in the home by letting them see it lived-out by the parents in that home.

A time for choice

Solomon was the wisest man of his time.  He experienced virtually everything that was available, everything under the sun.  He understood Scripture.  He could discern people and even divide a child between two arguing women.  In the end, he decided there were only two important things to which we need to pay attention:
Here is my final conclusion: fear God and obey his commandments, for this is the entire duty of man.  Ecclesiastes 12:13 (TLB)
How do you fear God?  Believe what the Scripture says about Jesus being your salvation.
How do you obey his commands?  Ask Him for wisdom, follow the wise counsel of the body of Christ and immerse yourself in a daily conversation (prayer life) with Christ and others, so that you can know Him.
And if you’ll build your own life with this kind of wisdom, those children, and grandchildren of yours will get it; they see much more than you could ever say with words! 
·       You’ll build your home with wisdom! 
·       You’ll gather the herd that tends to scatter!
Father, you have called us to be people who unite for the purpose of uniting all humans in Your Kingdom.  Sometimes we get discouraged because we think every bit of that is up to us.  But You have called us to be responsible right where we’re planted.
Help us, Lord, with the person we know best – ourselves – to let Scripture inform our reason, our traditions, and our experiential knowledge of You.  In order that the wisdom You give will inform and inspire those who meet us to see Jesus as the light in our souls…and give all glory, honor, and praise to You.
We pray in the Name of the Father, Because of the Son, Cooperating with the Spirit.  Let it be so in each of our lives…Amen!


Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©


[1] Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary

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