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WHEN FAMILY BECOMES AN IDOL Malachi 4:6
I. Why must families be strengthened?
A. The Scriptures instruct parents to _________ their children which _________ the church to _________ them for the _________
Eph 6:4 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.
Deuteronomy 6:6-9 These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
B. Modern Christian families are________ and ________ so the church must give ________________ to offering them biblical help
C. Concentrated effort to equip parents to disciple their children is ____ _________ – it is _______
II. The problem: Some believers are imbalanced in their devotion to family
A. An idol is anything which receives the _________ _________ by God
Greek for Idol: eidolon, i'-do-lon; something fashioned or formed which can be viewed (in contrast to the living God, who is invisible, was never formed, and has no shape). See Romans 1:25.
1. Idols are those things in which we ____our _____ and ________ more than _____
2. Family is our _________ responsibility, but we must _________ _________ for our family
B. The real root of idolatry is ____ ______________ – looking to, trusting in something other than God to satisfy. (Eph 5:5; Col 3:5)
ê Yes, the ______ of proper child training is joy and delight, but ______ is not our _________ Prov 29:17 Discipline your son, and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul.
C. Our _____________and _____________ is to come from God, not family
1. Imbalance: family becomes the source of either our _________ or ________________
2. We are not loving them ___________ – we are using them to _________________ ourselves
III. The family may have become an idol for us when …
A. We become more concerned with our family’s ______________ than with their _________ (Mat 23:5)
1. We care more that they are seen as ________ than they be _____________ and _________
2. Concern with image means we can easily _______________________ by their misbehavior
3. Cause of this problem: We are impressed by the __________________ of other parents, so may work on the _______ of the fruit rather than the ________ which _________ the fruit (Mat 12:34)
B. It has become the _________ _________ _________ of spirituality
1. We _________ or _________ others on the _________ of their family
2. We _________ _________ of our parenting
3. Sit in _________ _________ of all others
4. Because “family order” is a badge of spirituality, if our children _____ we will be _____________
C. We are more preoccupied with _________ _________ and _________ of parenting than leading our children into a _________ _________ relationship with God
1. Hyper-sheltering, the best God-centered curriculum, biblical child training principles, and elimination of television will ___ _________ if we do not _________ their hearts ____ _____
ê Genuine intimacy with God is _________ more than it is _________
ê If we do ____ _________ a genuine faith, we _________ _________ religious piety
2. We need to pursue _________ _________ _________ relationships with our children
3. Family is an idol when it is a _______ to _______ rather than a collective relationship of people who _________ _________ God and _________ _________
D. It has become ___ ______ rather than __ _______by which God’s kingdom is _________
1. The goal is not to create a strong family _____ the _______ of _________ a strong family
ê It is not the pre-eminent Christian _________ to _________
ê A strong family is a _________ not a _____________
2. We are on this _________ to ___ _________ (Mat 5:14-15)
E. We think there is a _____ _______ upon which all family-minded people will eventually _______
1. Only the_________ can _________ _________ a path, ie:
2 Pet 1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Unless Scripture_________ a path, we enter ____________ when we set standards for others
ê Like the Pharisees, we may _____ _______ in our position on the path, and ___________ to those not as _________
ê The Problem: Although we have our “ducks in a row,” we will find ourselves _______________ (James 4:6)
ê Our children will either become _________ or they will become ____________
F. We make “family strengthening” the only standard for _______ __ _____________
1. We must look for one which is based on the _________ and ________ __________
2. It should be one which _______ ___ _________ to Christ
3. It should be one which allows our children _______________________
4. Remember that God _________ and _______ _____ prayers before you were _________
5. Don’t feel you need to leave a fellowship unless it ________ a _______ _________ to your family
6. Don’t deprive your family of needed _________ by doing ______________________
ê It is God’s design that we be ________ ____________ in a _________ ____________
1 Cor 12:14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many … 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" (also Heb 10:25)
IV. If we have made the family an idol how do we dethrone it?
A. Know that God _______ ______ and is _________ to give you a _______ ________
B. Don’t spend your life ________ ____________ that you think might____________ your family
ê Yes, if you need it, get _________ ___________ on family life, but …
C. Remember that there______ ___ _____________steps, methods, or principles
ê Are you more concerned with _________ your children or _______ __________ into them? Mat 12:34b … out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. … 15:11 What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'" … 23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
ê Ask yourself – are you relying on _____ __________ principles? Where does _______ come in?
ê Your family is not a _________ . Cultivate ________ __________with family members.
D. If you have entered into the _________ and ____________ of _____________, trade it in for the _________ of Christ
ê Do not _____________ to those who ___________________ your personal standards
Rom 14:1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2 One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
E. Preoccupy yourself not with becoming a _______________ but a family of _______ ___________
1. A strong family is a ______________ of the true _____________
Mal 4:6 He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse." (See Luke 1:17)
2. Parents who ________God in all ____________ will more likely ________ _______faith than those who attend all the family seminars and read all the books
ê ______________ will do a _______ _______ in your family than the best curriculum and Bible principle exercises
ê Give your ______________ to _________God and _________ your family with you Jer 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Josh 24:15 … as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
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