FAMIL...ME!
Love Your Family • Sermon • Submitted
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Families are important to God
They are his design
Jesus could have come any other way, but God chose to send Him via family
They are precious to Him
They form the basis of strong communities & nations and are one of the original forms of spirtual warfare against the enemy
Living in right relationship with the people in our household shows a watching world how good it is to live in right relationship with our Creator.
Families are the primary vehicle through which distinct values—right worship and right relationships—are passed on from one generation to the next.
That is why there has always been an assault on families by satan
Family is where we learn to function in the fruits of the spirit, its the training ground for relationships, conflict, forgiveness & healing
My responsibility to my family is me
Whatever I expect from my family, has to start with me
Most family conflicts (not all, but a vast majority) we see are because they’ve forgotten to put the other person first
Poster on Megs toilet door - put on screen
Poster on Megs toilet door - put on screen
What does it look like to really love your family?
How did Jesus love?
Compassion: Jesus was incredibly compassionate. We see Him time and time again responding to the needs of the suffering:The sick were made well and the blind given sight
He liberated those who were bound by social injustice and prejudice
Those in bondage to demonic powers were set free (Luke 4:33-35)
He loved deeply (Matt 9:36; Mark 10:21; Luke 7:13)
Respect: Jesus’s respect for all of life was universal
He repeatedly respected and valued women – an attitude largely unexpected and unknown in His culture and time. (Mark 1:30-31; Luke 7:11-15; 13:10-17)
He respected and valued children (Mark 10:13-16)
He respected the downtrodden and poor. It’s the purpose for which He came according to Luke 4:18-19
Listened: Jesus was an extraordinary listener. Whether it be His enemies or His disciples, Jesus valued people by listening to them and responding thoughtfully and patiently.
Encouraged: Jesus spent a great deal of time encouraging people towards love.
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless. When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.
Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.
What I have learnt:
To really love your family takes humility
Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.
In Philippians 2:7 - Jesus emptied Himself
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form,
Holy Spirit - this is not about you
Its easy to make everything about ourselves, when often it isn’t.
Saying sorry, being sensitive to the feelings, emotions and experiences of the other person
Stopping to take stock and see what my hearts motivation is
Most of the time I have found that LOVE has been the thing that has made the greatest change.
2. To really love your family means to serve without expectation
Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
If we go back to 1 Corinthians ( love chapter) - Verse 1 infers that if I don’t match my words with actions of love, I am just making a noise.
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
Jesus washed the feet of His disciples
Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father. He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end. It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God. So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him. When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”
The reason Jesus is doing this act of service for them is to set an example of how they should treat others. There was going to be a new way of doing things if the disciples were going to follow him. It was no longer going to be a competition of who was greater than who like the disciples had been arguing about previously.
Now all that call Jesus “Lord” would become like servants for the benefit of others. As Jesus says in verses 14-15, “Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
I have learnt to serve my kids as much as I expect them to serve me
3. To really love your family means to listen without bias
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.
We so often want to get our point across that we railroad healthy communication
Love means…I value what you have to say and I will listen
Blank canvas - without bias
Listened: Jesus was an extraordinary listener. Whether it be His enemies or His disciples, Jesus valued people by listening to them and responding thoughtfully and patiently.
How many misunderstandings could we avoid if we just listened well and in the right way?
Listen to learn v’s listening to respond
Listening well helps us to respond in step with the Holy Spirit
4. To really love your family is to be honest
Integrity is a huge thing .
I will be careful to live a blameless life— when will you come to help me? I will lead a life of integrity in my own home.
Your family is the first to see through your charade.
The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.
You can’t expect anymore from your family, than you are willing to do yourself
5. To really love your family is not being afraid to make the hard calls
I have appreciated my family pointing out blind spots in my life
It may be called tough love… but love non the less
Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.
We grow toward maturity by speaking the truth, motivated by LOVE
Jesus took people on the journey, to bring them to restoration & give them an opportunity to change
Rich young ruler
Someone came to Jesus with this question: “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” “Why ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. But to answer your question—if you want to receive eternal life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” the man asked. And Jesus replied: “ ‘You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as yourself.’” “I’ve obeyed all these commandments,” the young man replied. “What else must I do?” Jesus told him, “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the young man heard this, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.
Pray for families