I’m going to make
a bold theory. Could the way that our children are acting be because of the way
parents and grandparents are acting? The
more I see the way our communities act, it is turning into a very possible
reason. Paul gives strict warning about
what is coming regarding this. He says
in 2 Timothy 3:1-7, “But understand this, that in the last days there will come
times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud,
arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless,
unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,
treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid
such people. For among them are those who creep into households and capture
weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always
learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.”
Let us simply
break down these verses for an understanding of why things are the way they
are. Dear reader, we are in the last
days as we have been since the time of Christ’s ascension. Every society in every age has always had to
confront that they are in times of difficulty. Today is no different.
What makes our
society today so different is the rampant and immediate way in which these
problems are manifested and who has the capability to answer. With the advent of 24/7 news coverage, then
the internet, Facebook, Twitter, and any other app that has become the latest
fad, give us instant access to people’s sins AND then other people’s opinions
on such matters. There is no such thing as
relying on an expert’s opinion because social media makes it possible to have
everyone think they are an expert on the topic.
Where once an individual would have posited his theological question
before his pastor, he now takes it to social networking where too many people
believe they have the theological acumen to answer the question. I’m a self-taught expert or better yet, I
took four theology classes at a college and now know all!
I would argue
that there are signs of even greater distress than ever before. The appearance of godliness is manifest
throughout society as we hear the come catchphrase, “I am spiritual but not
religious.” In this lackluster saying, a
person shows how shallow they are as they deny the faith. Paul points out about such people, “they deny
its power.” That is, they deny the power
of faith. In fact, by such sayings,
Paul shows us, “that they creep into households and capture weak women,
burdened with sins and led astray by various passions.”
Who is the
they? They are those who teach falsely
and all people, but especially Paul points out women are being captured by
false teaching. Paul points out women
here because as he says elsewhere in 1 Timothy 2:14, “and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was
deceived and became a transgressor.” Why women are more sceptible is another
conversation, but to start, it must be driven home that if women are led astray
it begins with man’s unwillingness to be the man and lead his household.
Too many men are
unwilling to teach and correct their wives.
Too many men, even more tragically, are unwilling to be taught by the
church and either be strengthened in the faith or be corrected in their false
belief. The arguments for this are many,
but too give a couple examples, a common saying, “happy wife, happy life,”
plays predominantly into such thinking.
Also the all too common belief that I can worship my god (yes that is
small g on purpose) anyway I want, or that church is for women and children
plays principally into such a false belief. The failure of society is the
failure of the husband and it is a neglecting of the husband’s primary
responsibility, to love his wife as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up
for her. (Ephesians 5:25)
If we wish to begin
to correct such a problem, men need to lead a life of life humble assertiveness
and nowhere is this better displayed then in leading a life of repentance. (Jeff Hemmer, Man Up! pg. 244) Men confess their sin, receive absolution,
and bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
Husbands/Fathers be the man and lead by example. Protect your family from the assaults of the
devil, the world, and the sinful flesh.
An example would
be helpful here. We are witnessing the
destructive problems that were created in the fall by Adam and Eve. In 2 Timothy 3, Paul is warning Timothy to be
on the watch for men who lead women astray.
Why is this? It is because man is all too often abdicating his role as
head of the house to his wife. In fact,
worse than that, too many men in culture are giving the headship over to their
wives. They allow the woman to determine
the theology in the household, and our
church is reaping its destruction for such callous oversight. (Now sometimes it is important if the husband
is in error for the wife to point it out, but we are speaking of a man simply
abdicating his role as head of house and not speaking about the healthy
dialogue between husband and wife.) Nowhere in history have we seen this
deceptive work occur so blatantly than over the past 30 years as women have
been allowed to pursue the Office of Holy Ministry and the homosexual agenda
continues to be shoved down the Church’s and home’s throat. Paul knows that our Christian families need
to be protected.
It is no
coincidence that liberal Christianity (if we can even call it Christian) has
been able to forward its agenda into society.
When a husband cedes his role as pastor over his house, we certainly are
going to witness a decline in the society.
When man chooses his own selfish desires over that of what his family
needs (Christ and the gifts of the Church, first and foremost), then the roles
of the family will fall apart. When he
does not love his wife more than himself, when he is not willing to sacrifice
his own self-interest for the sake of the family, she will not submit to his
care, because she does not believe (rightly) he will truly love her. Her desire then will not be for her husband,
and she will attempt to take care of her own needs that he has been called to
provide.
Worse yet, is the
reaction of the community to a wayward head of house. Rather than call husband and wife to account,
they step in and say we will do the job.
This community is found first and foremost in the local congregation, but
when false theology creeps into a church, she will not understand her God-given
responsibility and teach the family but rather the church will usurp the role
of head of house in order to promote the false teaching that she has swallowed. This is why liberal Christianity is having a
hay day amongst the people. Too
many local churches are being influenced
by socialism and are seeking out the latest fad in religious heretical writings
or, succumbing to the suggestions of the world.
In this way, we see why there are demands for more and more laws and the
taking away of freedoms. Even more
frustrating, restrictions and laws are now being made against the Christian
faith.
So when both the
husband and wife and then the bride of Christ, the church, take care of their
own perceived needs first and ignore God’s properly given roles, whoring
themselves out to the world, then our children will see the same behavior. And what will their desire be? It is to solve their problems on their
own. And sadly, they conclude, that life is all about me and I am the most
important.
We, parents and
community, have created an entitlement society.
We are to blame for our children’s behavior. We teach our children it’s ok to bully for
example. We teach this as we gossip
about someone. Gossiping is nothing else
then bullying someone behind their backs.
We teach our children how to bully by ignoring people in society. We teach our children to not love the new kid
or loner in school and to involve him in our established circle of friends when
we ignore our own neighbors in the community and focus on our comforts. We especially do, when we don’t teach our
children to invite new children over to get to know them.
By our actions or
in-action, we teach our children that it is okay to create outsiders and
loneliness, that it is ok to not speak kindly and welcome others who have come
into the community. We teach our children to bully by excluding new people in
our towns (whether done explicitly or implicitly). We teach our children to bully when we demand
that others accept our ways for no other reason than they are our traditions
(as opposed to going into Scripture and teaching why such traditions are pious
and right).
In fact, we
encourage our children’s bullying, even though we would never say we do, when
we refuse to admit our children do it when confronted by someone else saying
our children are being bullies. (If you
have been told your child is a bully, you definitely need to do some
self-examination!)
We, the parents
and community, instead cry out that the reason the child lashed out is because
we don’t have strict enough gun laws, that mental health is the problem, the
schools did not prepare, or the parents of the child were not watching them. That’s
not the problem.
The problem is us.
When parents
reject the Church and hearing how we have sinned, or when the community says
other things are much more important to participate in then the church (i.e.
club sports and other activities that attack our Sunday mornings), the problem
falls square into our laps.
When we refuse to
admit that we are guilty of the sins listed in 2 Timothy 3, or when we seek to
blame someone or something else for our sin, we are pulling the oldest and
worst trick out of the book: It’s the
trick of Adam and Eve. And guess
what? They were found guilty.
So are we. The supposed “campaign” that has come out to
fight against gun violence has one thing right.
Enough. Have you had enough? Stop blaming others. Until we begin to confess our sins and admit
we are guilty of sinning against these families, and our children can confess
they are guilty of sinning against these children, it will keep getting worse
and worse. The sins of the father will
continue to follow his children to the third and fourth generation of those who
sin against God.
But there is good
news. You are invited to Prince of Peace
Lutheran Church in Buffalo, Wyoming. If you
a new family in town or have you found something lacking in your own personal
community come here—you are welcome here.
In our church is a family that will never forsake you. If you are reading this and don’t live in my
town, let me know I will help you find the right church home.
Why is this good
news? If you have failed as father or
mother or as a member of the community, there is forgiveness here. You don’t need to do anything for it. You especially don’t need to decide it is for
you. If you are desiring forgiveness
right now, the Lord has already done his work.
He has already called you to repentance.
He has already drawn you to himself.
Come receive the
fruit of repentance worked in you, hear Christ’s absolution from his
pastors. These men are called by God to
deliver to you the gifts of forgiveness.
They won’t judge or doubt your confession of sin. These men will simply proclaim Christ’s
forgiveness to you. If you have a place
you call your church but never hear the absolution, the forgiveness of sins,
come hear it from this pastor’s lips. It
is ok to admit you are a sinner, your Lord will not abandon you. This is the joy that we know in The Lutheran
Church—Missouri Synod, forgiveness is yours every time.
It does not
matter how horrific is your sin, it doesn’t matter how long you have been away
from the Church, come now. Receive God’s
gift of grace, receive his forgiveness of sins in the ways he has created for
you to receive. Come to his holy Church
and receive these gifts!
This life
changing gift of forgiveness will be your constant encouragement throughout
your life. As you are continually filled
with Christ, you are then led to reject the works of Satan and embrace the
fruit of faith. You will begin to love
your neighbor as yourself. You will
earnestly desire to be the faithful husband or wife and member of the Church.
In Christ, as a
child of the holy Christian church, you will begin to understand how Christ and
his bride, the church truly shows love to you.
It is found because Christ gives up his life for your holy mother, the
church. It is found because the church
desires you to earnestly receive this gift and will constantly call you to
receive this gift. Whether you were
baptized as a child or are an adult convert to the faith, you are constantly
called to receive forgiveness. In turn,
Christ and his bride, the church, will teach you. He blesses our Church with a pastor, who
confesses his own sin, and desires to teach you. This fascinating relationship
you have as a child of God will show you that you are not alone either. For the Church will always love you: teaching
you, rebuking you, forgiving you, keeping you as their child in the faith till
the day you are called to receive your eternal home.
A word of caution
should be noted though; this is not prescription for 100% success. It is impossible to keep sin out of this
world. Will there still be hatred in the
world? Will there still be people who
act out irrationally? Is it possible for
you to live rightly and to teach your children rightly and still see them be
attacked or be the attacker? Yes,
unfortunately. Again, it is impossible
to keep sin out of this world. But we
who have received the love of Christ, his forgiveness of sins, have the joy of
Christ to befriend the bullied neighbor or child. We have the joy of Christ to love those who
are lonely or hurting, because it was Jesus who for our sake chose to love the
unlovable—this is us—first. He endured
the cross, the shame, in order to bring you the gift of forgiveness. This is also what the world needs to hear—the
gift of forgiveness.
