Matthew 6:33. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” Priorities are important in every walk of life and that includes family life. The number one building block of a successful, prospering society is the family. By family, I’m using the descriptions and examples that are found throughout the Word of God. The modern term used in describing the biblical picture of a family is the “nuclear” family. In those homes there is a father, a mother, and children. I understand that every family doesn’t necessarily have each of these ingredients. Some married couples are childless. Some homes have experienced a death, which breaks this mold, but the general picture is a father, a mother, and children. But my how this model has morphed over the years. In 1960, America’s nuclear families made up 73% of the population. In 2024, only 46% of homes are nuclear or traditional (Pew Research). In 1960 only 5% of children born were born out of wedlock. Today it is well over 40% when you combine all racial and ethnic groups. What has caused all of this? We have walked away from the biblical model and continue to shun that same biblical pathway.
Headlines. “Nuclear family is officially over” (Business Insider 2023). “Nuclear family is a mistake” (David Brooks, The Atlantic 2020). “Nuclear family is no longer the norm” (NY Times, 2022). This past week (May 2024), the kicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, Harrison Butker, was the graduation speaker at the Benedictine Catholic College in Kansas. He talked about the graduates’ choices giving them encouragement for whatever path they chose. In his remarks, he said that some of you may choose marriage and to have children, while some of you may choose a career path. Nothing controversial for people who are sane, but a radical faction in our nation is calling for the Kansas City Chiefs to fire him from the team for those awful remarks about the home and children.
“Thunderbolt.” That was the word description used on June 26, 2015. It was that day that the Supreme Court of the United States redefined marriage. In Obergefell v. Hodges, the majority of judges made same-sex marriages the law of the land just like opposite-sex marriages. The definition that had been in place for all recorded history was overturned. Well, Pandora’s box was opened and immediately people began applying to marry multiple people called polygamy. Some wished to marry their dog, others wished to marry a daughter, car, dolphin, computer, mother, grandmother, and one lady wanted to marry her bicycle. The floodgates were opened and why not? If you change the definition once, why not twice, why not a hundred times?
What do we Christians do? How do we stay grounded in times like these? How do we raise godly children? We recognize several things. We remember God is still on the throne. Nothing has taken him by surprise. We go to the Bible for our direction. During the month of June, I am going to preach four messages called “Family Circles.” Visualize a target with a bullseye. Going outward from the center are circles that expand. Each of these circles represent a priority for the Christian and the Christian family. I preached this series 7 years ago. This visual of the circles isn’t original to me. One of the greatest preachers to pastor in Georgia was a man named Emory Bowker. He pastored the Gilead Baptist Church in Macon, Georgia. He’s with the Lord now, but his oldest son is a dear friend and faithful man of God. Bro. Bowker’s basic framework will be the basis for our series. I hope you’ll be in attendance each week, eager to learn the priorities for our lives and our families. The three things I will drive home in each message. 1. Keep the circles in their proper order. 2. The first circle determines the success of all the others. 3. Never allow an outer circle to violate an inner circle. These three principles will determine success or failure in our homes.
Last Monday, Memorial Day, was the unofficial start of Summer. You’ll be pulled in a multitude of directions and priorities will be challenged. I ask you to remember a couple of things. 1) Remember the statement Joshua made to the nation of Israel and let’s commit to these same words. “And if it seems evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14). 2) Remember it always pays to obey the Lord. Let me tell you a humorous story about a poor man trying to feed his family. There was a poor man who lived in the country. His family had nothing to eat for supper. He had an old beat-up rifle with only three bullets. He decided to go hunting to try and feed his wife and kids. He saw a rabbit, he took aim, fired, and missed. Then he saw a squirrel, he took aim, fired, and missed. He was down to one bullet. He stopped by a creek staring. Looking a short distance near a small tree, about three feet off the ground he saw a wild turkey. He thought, “I’m down to one bullet.” Suddenly a voice said, “Pray first, aim high, stay focused.” He looked beyond the turkey and saw a deer. “OK he thought. Dear Lord, I need you to help me with this shot. I have only one bullet left.” “Pray first, aim high, stay focused” was the voice again. Then he hears a rattle. He looks down and a rattlesnake is between his legs about to strike. He lowers the gun aiming at the snake. He hears the voice, “Pray first, aim high, stay focused.” The man decides to listen to the Lord. He raised the gun toward the turkey, aimed high and fired. The bullet went through the turkey’s head killing it, into the deer with a perfect shot to the heart killing it as well. When he fired the shot his feet slipped, and falling backward into the creek, he stood up with his pockets full of fish and the old gun’s stock fell off hitting the rattler in the head, killing the snake. He had turkey, deer, and fish for his family supper. It always pays to listen to God.