BUILDING A STRONGER FAMILY, wk 3: Take God Seriously
The third commandment says: "Do not misuse the name of the Lord your God." Ex. 20:7. NLT
God's names are used to signify His...
-Character
-Reputation
-Authority
**Timeless Truth**
Gad calls us not to misuse His name in our families. The third commandment instructs us to honor, reflect and use appropriately God's name.
Incorrect ways to use God's name:
1. In profanity (God Damnit!; Oh, for Christ's sake!, etc.)
2. To make excuses (well, God told me to divorce this woman and marry this one...)
3. To manipulate (God told me that you should be the one to do this or that...)
4. To Impress (Acting "worshipful", using religious and spiritual expressions to look Godly)
5. Without thinking (Chuck gave ex: He was in line waiting for coffee, for exorbitant amount of time, getting frustrated, etc... woman apologizes for the delay and he says flippantly--as to make the woman smile or chuckle--"Yeah, God's just teaching me patience... )
Chuck made it a point to discuss that example, saying that some people might say there is nothing wrong with that, or that he is splitting hairs. But he knew that it was wrong. It was the intention behind what he said that made it wrong. He was not being serious about it--rather, he was just tossing a phrase to ease the tension. He could have easily said something like "Hey, I'm just learning patience" and it would have had the exact same effect, so he knew he was misusing God's name.
How to honor God's name in my family? 3 ways!
1. WATCH your words!
Jesus said "...For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of." Luke 6:45 (GN)
"Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise are healing." Prov. 20:7 (NLT)
After this Scripture, Chuck brought up a study done a few years back that sought to get to the bottom of why people get divorced. They wanted an actual reason, a pin-pointed specific one. What they came to realize was actually quite interesting: they studied the communication habits of a whole bunch of newlywed couples. For those couples that ended up getting divorced, they were in the habit of making 10 cutting remarks or more out of every 100 remarks to the other partner in their first year of marraige... those that ended up staying together made five or fewer cutting remarks out of every hundred they voiced. Over time, that 5% dwindled to even less cutting remarks aimed at each other. The ones whose cutting remarks comprised 10% of their comments to their spouses actually increased over time, until the complete breakdown of the marraige.
Chuck had something very insightful to say about this. Your spouse is made in the image of God. So why on earth would you put them down? And also, the Bible talks about how when a man and woman are married, the two become one... So really, if you are making cutting remarks to your husband or wife, you are really cutting down yourself. You are slapping or hitting yourself, emotionally. Not good.
Then he went to the next verse, and suggested we make this a prayer to God:
"May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord..." Psalm 19:14(NLT)
WALK In Integrity!
"The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children after them." Prov. 20:7(NLT)
"A person who calls himself a Christian should not be doing things that are wrong." 2Tim 2:19(LB)
Here, Chuck talked about how big of a responsibility that is, and that no one can live up to it. We all fail, but we have to pray that DESPITE our failures, others will still be brought to the Lord. That God can use us anyway, and that our failures and shortcomings won't turn people off to God. But we must be conscientious about these things, and remember that non-believers are observing us, and that we must set a good example.
"And whatever you do or say, let it be as a representative of the Lord Jesus..." Col. 3:17 (NLT)
3. WORSHIP Wholeheartedly!
"Give honor to the Lord for the glory of His name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness." Psalm 29:2(NLT)
"The Lord said, "These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else..."..." Isaiah 29:13(GN)
"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life - and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out." Romans 12:1,2(MES)
(WHAT AN AWESOME VERSE!!!!!)
We must worship Him with all our hearts, shutting out everything else and offering ourselves and our praises to Him and only Him. We don't sing songs just to sound pretty and to bond. We do it to enter into His presence and offer all we have to Him. We offer Him those songs--the words and the music and every effort behind them--all to Him. We MUST do it, just for Him. Otherwise it is pointless.
I just LOVE the second verse there, about not being so well-adjusted to our society. I think it's AWESOME. Just. Plain. Awesome. We are not of this world, we are merely ambassadors for God. We are not for earth, we are for HEAVEN. We need to act like it. If we pay attention to the spiritual world, to God, and to Heaven, and to His purpose for us, rather than the petty, sinful, selfish, TEMPORARY world around us, it will completely blow us away, and change us from the inside out.
Chuck ended with this verse:
"Everything that we have - right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start - comes from God by way of Jesus." 1 Cor. 1:30 (MES)
Everything we have was made possible by Jesus. When we have doubts and we sin and we fail and we slip up and fall astray... it can all be restored through Jesus. We may say "but God, I just... or I need... or I can't... " and God says "Just see my son... Look, would you just see my son?"
I hope this is helpful to you. I know it was to me. Go with God, and live out loud!
-Jack-
