The final week of our series:
Blueprints: God’s Design for Church and Family
Week 1: Blueprints for God’s Design of Family
A Healthy Family is God’s Blueprint for human flourishing
- Individuals and the church
Week 2: Laying The Foundation For Healthy Families
Biblical Values form a strong foundation for healthy families
Week 3: Quality Framing for Quality Families
Christian Maturity is the quality that sets apart healthy families
This series has been about…
What works for YOUR FAMILY works for the church family
What works for the CHURCH FAMILY works for your family
Our “HOUSE” is almost complete
There is one last thing before it’s complete…
A final walk-through INSPECTION
- Picks out things that may have been missed
- Things that were done wrong
The Importance of a BUILDING CODE
Sets a standard of EXPECTATION
- Same as a job code of conduct
- etc
When things aren’t done to code, the LOWEST BAR becomes the standard
- Dangerous
- Cheap
- Lazy way out
A house built to code is a safe home
A Safe Home is a GOOD HOME
The same happens in our relationships
When codes differ, disappointment is always the result
Let’s not just think about what a code “IS”
But what a good code LEADS TO
Let’s think about it this way…
A Proper CODE leads to PROPER CARE
- It makes sure things are safe
Today, we are talking about:
A Healthy Family’s Code For Care
<PRE VERSE CONTEXT>
Corinthians were a mess…
- In a very pagan city
- Primary God was a sex deity
- Struggling with maturity
- Arguing over meaningless things…
Paul writes…
1 Corinthians 12:12-21
12 For just as the body is one and has many parts, and all the parts of that body, though many, are one body—so also is Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and we were all given one Spirit to drink. 14 Indeed, the body is not one part but many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I’m not a hand, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I’m not an eye, I don’t belong to the body,” it is not for that reason any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But as it is, God has arranged each one of the parts in the body just as he wanted. 19 And if they were all the same 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!” Or again, the head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”
Codes for a healthy family…
CODE #1: Acknowledge And Respect One Another’s Differences
<ILLUSTRATION>
Comparing your kids to one another
Data says:
Sibling comparison often leads to conflict and rivalries. Unresolved, these can have extensive consequences, including:
- Being perceived as someone who shows off and brags a lot
- Constantly competing for parental attention
- Pressuring parents to choose their side in sibling conflicts
- Failing to treat their siblings as adults and equals
- Treating their brothers and sisters as enemies
- Sabotaging their siblings’ lives, relationships, and work
- Belittling their siblings to make them feel inadequate
Corinthian Church was caught in a “COMPARISON TRAP“
- Prophecy
- Tongues
- Healing
- Faith
- Wisdom
- etc
Comparison leads to FAMILY CODE VIOLATIONS (Church or Family)
- Jealousy
- Bitterness
- Showboating
Family Examples:
- Husband and wife not working together leveraging strengths rather than focus on weakness
- We use our strengths to cover the other’s weaknesses
- Parents comparing kids — To one another, to themselves
Church Examples:
- Similar to the Corinthian church
So, Paul uses the example of the HUMAN BODY
- Many parts that work TOGETHER
1 Corinthians 12:24-26
Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, 25 so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other. 26 So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
We celebrate differences
God is creative in his creation
- Places and people
- “No Jew/Gentile” No “Slave/free”
- One family
What is the primary way we overcome our differences and work together?
- How do we overcome comparison?
Paul Writes…
1 Corinthians 13
13 If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give away all my possessions, and if I give over my body in order to boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, (Uncomplaining, Long-suffering, Composed)
love is kind. (Generous, Considerate)
Love does not envy, (Not Resentful, Not Jealous)
is not boastful, (Not Puffed Up, Not Overbearing)
is not arrogant, (Not Full of yourself, Not Egotistical)
5 is not rude, (Polite, is Civil, Not “In your face”)
is not self-seeking, (Not Individualistic, Not selfish. It’s Mature)
is not irritable, (Not Testy, Not Grumpy, Not Whinny)
and does not keep a record of wrongs. (Ledger of past hurts)
6 Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Codes for a healthy family…
Code #2: Sacrificially Love One Another
Paul gives one of the best descriptions of CHRISTIAN LOVE
- This love is unique to Christians
Christian love is ACTIVE
- Not a feeling but a set of positive actions
Love does NOT always mean agreeing
- Our culture has highjacked the meaning of love
Love is COMPASSION, and CARE
- Telling someone they are wrong can be GREAT COMPASSION
- Done in love
Code Violations:
- Constant Impatience
- Continual Harshness
- Envy
- Constant Bragging
- Rudeness
- Always self-seeking
- Continual Irritability
- Always keeping a record of wrongs
- Bearing nothing
- Believing nothing
- Hoping nothing
- Enduring nothing
This passage sums up this series so well
1 Peter 2
1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation, 3 if you have tasted that the Lord is good. 4 As you come to him, a living stone—rejected by people but chosen and honored by God— 5 you yourselves, as living stones, a spiritual house, are being built to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.