During a sermon, “The Foundation of a Strong Family,” the Rev. Randy Thornton, senior pastor of Grace Church in Southern Pines, N.C., read this:
“But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God – having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people” (2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV).
“Is this not a picture of our day?” Thornton asked.
He read Genesis 2:18-24: “The LORD God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. … So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, … he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib …, and he brought her to the man. The man said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman, for she was taken out of man.’ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”
“God’s design for the future is ‘family,’” Thornton said. “Jesus talks about the church as a family. You have your physical family, but you also have your church family.”
We will answer to God for how we live our lives, Thornton said. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10).
“God is a loving God, but the other side is this: God is a just and holy God, and he must judge sin; all believers will one day stand before Christ,” Thornton said. “We will have no defense. I would-a, could-a, should-a is not going to work in heaven.”
He said God will consider three issues: 1. How much truth did you know? 2. How many opportunities did he give to you? 3. What did you do with all he entrusted to you?
“What a man sows, he reaps,” Thornton said. “How many have done something stupid and had to pay for your actions? God wants us to live a life of holiness and obedience. He desires us to live in family.”
1. A family exists to shelter one from storms: “Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge” (Proverbs 14:6).
2. A family helps one deal with change: The culture changes every three to five years. A family helps one deal with failure. “It’s a place where change and failure can be embraced, and they (family members) still love you,” Thornton said.
3. A family helps you deal with rejection: “Life hurts,” he said, “but family is a safe place, a secure place. Family doesn’t end; it’s a life-time endeavor.”
Thornton said some of the unhappiest people living in Moore County, N.C., are those who worked hard, neglected their families, retired and now feel their children are just waiting to collect an inheritance when they die.
“The family is a learning center for life,” he said. “Don’t provoke your children.”
“Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
“Some things are learned in the context of family and community; Lone Rangers always get shot down,” Thornton said. “And a lot of childrearing is learning which end of the child to pat.”
There are three stages of training: parental control, self-control, and God control (the greatest control). Relationships are learned in “family.”
“Your children are going to struggle a little bit,” Thornton said. “There may be a time when they slip and fall. Parents, don’t give up. A family is a place to have fun and enjoy life. Make family events fun. … You can’t change where you’ve been in the past, but you can change what your family becomes. Family is a place for life and ministry. If you want to build a strong family, you need to know the Lord and help everyone in your family know the Lord.”
“They (Paul and Silas) replied (to their jailor), ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household’” (Acts 16:31).
“I believe we have to be committed to God’s design for the family,” Thornton said. “Cultivate a relationship with God. Fight for your family. Failure is only a failure if you stay down and wallow in your failure. Let’s live according to the holy will of God.”
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