By Kevin Williams
The first time I heard Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr speak, I was so convicted by the Biblical truths he taught, that when I saw a police car near my house I actually thought for moment that they'd come to arrest me for being a bad parent! And this was some time after I'd already started listening to and reading other great Christian resources on the Biblical family, in an effort to route out the many pagan practices regarding marriage and parenting, that have contaminated the church, but of which I had wrongly taken for granted for far too long that 'God was silent on these issues' when in fact, as Dr. Baucham shows in his book, that on the Biblical family, God speaks loud and clear.Family Driven Faith is one of those few books that I think every Christian should read, and especially anyone in or training to be in a teaching position in the church. The language is very clear and easy to understand and Dr Baucham teaches these important truths in a very gentle and loving way.
I
t really makes you wish someone had told you all this much earlier.Here are two quotes I used from the book in a sermon I gave: How a Biblical Understanding of Love Changes Everything.
“…the theme of demonstrating love for the Lord by keeping His commandments permeates the epistle of 1 John. In other words, if you want to know whether or not someone truly loves God, watch what he or she does. If the person does not do the things that are pleasing and acceptable, and in fact does the things that God abhors and forbids, and yet claims to love God, it will be tough to support that claim. In fact, John argues, “The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected.” 1 John 2:4-5a.
Love is proved by our efforts. If I say I love God, there should be evidence in the things I do (or the way I expend my energy and effort). By the same token, if I say I love my wife, that should be evidence by my actions. If my actions are self-centred. I am demonstrating love for me. However, if my actions are directed toward meeting her needs, then she truly is the object of my affections.” Family Driven Faith pp59-60.
“‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ Matthew 22:39
Thus Jesus, referencing Moses, comments on the essential nature of loving people as well as God… If our homes are to reflect our position as the people of God in the midst of the opposition of a pagan culture, we, like the Israelites, must learn to love.
Our homes must be rife with the aroma of love. Those who visit us should notice immediately that they have left the world of self-serving, egocentric narcissism and have entered a safe harbour where people value and esteem others above themselves. Outsiders should enter our homes and never want to leave. Our neighbours should find excuses to visit us just to get another whiff of the fragrant aroma of love. The brokenhearted should long to be near us. The downtrodden and the abused should seek us out. Families on the brink of disaster should point to us and say, “Why can’t our home be like that?”
Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. Far too often professing Christians in our culture don’t love better, more deeply, or longer than the Pagans who surround us. At times we bear more of the stench of this world than the fragrant aroma of the people of God. That’s the bad news. The good is that things don’t have to remain as they are. We can learn to love. The first step is to rid ourselves of the ineffective methods and ideologies that have led us down the current path.” Family Driven Faith pp51-52
For an introduction to Voddie Baucham Jr, I recommend listening to this excellent sermon Child Training.
Buy Family Driven Faith from England £7.86 (free worldwide delivery)
or from U.S.A $13:59.
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