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SCRIPTURE Ge 1:31 JUNE, 2015 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. SUBJECT = WE ALL HAVE A PART TO PLAY!!! When I talk about great movies, and actors/actresses, sports, successful businesses, and for that matter all Creation, what one thing do they all have in common??? All of them have a specific job [so to speak] to do. And in the overall scheme/design of things, nothing can get done if any element in that design does not do what it was designed to do. Let me explain it this way. In order for a business to be successful, no matter what the product it is selling, its main selling point is the quality of that product and its service. And the one factor that makes that quality possible, is the employees. From the corner store, up through the international store chains, manufacturing companies, sources of entertainment and sports, all of them count on those that work in them to do the assigned task they were put there to do so that they can accomplish what needs to be done. Can you imagine what an automobile would be like if it was manufactured at a plant where those that were hired to build it, did what they felt like doing, and not what they were hired to do?? Think about movies, where actors, instead of following the script, decided to do what they felt like doing. Think about athletes on sports teams, instead of playing the position they were hired to play, started to play the position they wanted to play. What you would end up with, is a disaster. Why??? Because, for anything to work smoothly, provided the design was right, every one working in that area, would have to do what they were assigned to do. Every thing has to have some type of design/order so that things can get done. Without that, you have chaos. If we look at Creation as recorded in Genesis from the beginning, up to the subject verse, we see how every thing that we have today came in to being. It was by design. Every thing that God created, was given a specific task for it/them to do, and they, to this very day, are doing just that. Well, let me take that back. Almost every thing. Out of every thing that God created, there is one element of His Creation that has decided to stray from the script, so to speak, and set about to doing its own thing. That element, is mankind. From the beginning, when God created him, man was given certain things to do, and restricted from doing only one thing. That meant that aside from that one thing, man was free to do any and everything he wanted to do. Yet, thanks to the serpent/Satan, and the influence he used on Eve, he got her to influence him/man/her husband, to violate God's directive, and you know the story. Because of him doing one thing wrong, all of creation was thrown in to chaos[Rom 5:12]. This is the result of disobeying God's directives. Move forward to today, where mankind routinely disobeys, or should I say attempts to do things that he was not put here to do. When God directs an individual to do something, and they don't do it, they are in effect engaging in what can best be described as unlawful behaviour, or doing something they were not hired/put here to do. Well, this message is going to look at the fundamental assignments that God gave to the man, the woman, and the children. If they all followed the script, I would dare say over 95 percent of all our problems in this nation and the world, for that matter, would disappear. From the offset, I realize that circumstances come in to all of our lives, that may force us to engage in activities, though not sin, that put us outside of the perfect will of God. A classic example is a husband and father dies leaving the wife to take on the responsibility of raising their child[ren] without the influence of two parents. There is a difference between this, and the idea of choosing to do this. More and more of us are taking the idea that because someone is forced in to doing something [i.e. single parenting because of the death of a spouse] it is OK to make that choice, outside of being married. God's perfect plan for the family, where there are children, is for there to be 2 parents, a father and a mother, working together to raise them. Anything outside of that falls in to an area of either permissive [less than God's perfect will] or disobedience [sin]. Let's look at the roles God gave to the man, the woman, and the children. If we could get these straight, then that would solve the vast majority of our problems. For the man, since God created him first, that puts him in the position of being the one God prefers to work through. It also means then, that any thing that goes wrong, man bears the responsibility. If you look at it, even though Eve was the one that first disobeyed God, as bad as it was, all of the things that occurred as far as the curses go, they all rest on Adam[Gen 3:17-19]. We would not be having the problems with sin, if Adam had refused to eat the fruit that Eve gave him. Consequently, when it comes to all things taking place within the family, man bears either the praise, or the blame. When the bible tells us that man is the head of the house[1Tim 3:1-5], and the head of the woman[Eph 5:22-24], that means, any relationship outside of that, where both are present, is out of order. This means that if the man and woman consider themselves as equal heads in the house, they are not in the will of God. As a result, somewhere down the road, things are going to manifest themselves, that will reveal something is wrong within the family unit. For the record, the woman was created to be man's helper. Ge 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet[helper] for him. A helper is one that assists a person that has a higher position, or more responsibility than they do in completing a task. In a marriage, the main task that God gave them to do, once again, it is the man that bears the responsibility of leading the family. The woman is there to assist the man in doing that. Like it or not, the man is to the woman, as Christ is to the Church. He is the head of the woman. Eph 5:22-23 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. Ladies, like it or not, this is God's perfect will for the institution of marriage/family. If you have a problem with this design of the family, you have a problem with God's design. And you know what that means. Rebellion. And, what does the bible have to say about rebellion??? 1Sm 15:23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. This relationship, has nothing to do with the notion that the woman is not as smart as the man, but more to do with the position they are put in, by God. When I was in the military, and worked for Chrysler, I had commanders/formen, who were younger, and had less time on the job than me. However, I had to submit to their authority, because that is what I was in that position to do. In a marriage, it is the responsibility of the man to love his wife, and provide her with what she needs to help her do her job of keeping up the house, and feeding him and her family [Eph 5:25-29]. He is also charged with protecting her and his family [1Tim 5:8]. This is his job. The other element of the family is the children. The job of the parents is to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Eph 6:4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. If you will notice, the instruction is to the man. However, the wife, being his assistant, is to help him do this. God's directions for the children is this, Obey your parents. Eph 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise; That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. This goes along with the commandment God gave in the old testament, where He said Exo 20:12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. God/Christ did not change the rules so how do you think you can, and expect Him to bless you?? If you will notice, there is the promise of having a long life for the children that are obedient to their Godly parents. If you will notice, the vast majority of children that have died as the result of violence, or accidents have one major thing in common. They were disobedient to their parents. I can't tell you how many young people I have seen even today, who think what their parents tell them was for the past, and not for them. Yet, the same fate that was in the past, is still claiming them today. According to this design for the family, the man, the woman and the children, if all of them did the job they were put here to do, we would not have all of the problems we have today. If you will notice in the subject scripture, when God finished all His work, 'it was very good!' Today, many are wondering if there is a God at all because of all the mess the world is going through. They think that if there is a God, and God loves everyone then why all the misery?? Very simple!! We have altered His plan, and stuck our own ideas in to it. Where man bears the responsibility of seeing that the wife and kids, are properly cared for, and taught the ways of God, many men have taken their position to mean that their wives and children are their property, or slaves, to be used and abused at their pleasure. The result is, they force the wife to take the children and leave. Notice, it is the man's fault. As a result, the woman has to raise the children the best she knows how, and will usually reject God's direction because the man, acting with God's authority, has destroyed her vision of God. So, she seeks what pleases her. And usually the unintended consequence is, her children end up suffering. If they don't have any Godly direction, they will most likely end up troublemakers and Godless. Obviously, there is a lot more to this subject, but time doesn't permit because I can't address every detail of how the family and the parts everyone plays in keeping it as God assigned them to do. Suffice it to say, God knows what He is doing, while we are stumbling around in the dark, not knowing our heads from our tails. In closing let me say this. In this nation there are those that believe a marriage can be made up of 2 men, or 2 women as parents, and raising children. That is rebellion, and the end result is obvious. It leads to chaos and destruction. |