The Christian Home
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
It was the Apostle Paul who, in the Spirit, said, "Grace * * hath appeared teaching us that * * we should live soberly, righteously and godly."
Christianity grants no license to licentiousness. The ethics of Christianity go far beyond the ethics which eminate from heathen cults. Our Lord laid great stress on the daily walk of those who serve Him. We have heard some ministers preach on "grace" as though it was an excuse for lawlessness. This is not true. While we can do nothing to become a Christian, we should do everything that becomes one.
Our Scripture text very plainly emphasizes Christ in the home.
(1) A message to children.
"Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right."
(2) A message to fathers.
"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."
(3) A message to servants.
"Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh."
(4) A message to masters.
"And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening."
(5) A message to wives.
(This message is found in Ephesians 5:22 of the preceding chapter) "Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord."
(6) A message to husbands.
(This also is found in Ephesians 5:25 of the preceding chapter.)
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church; and gave Himself for it."
I. A VIRTUOUS WOMAN (Proverbs 31:1-31)
1. "Her price is above rubies." God saw that man needed a helpmeet. He gave him the most priceless of all human gifts a woman. A virtuous woman is a joy forever.
2. "The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her." There is no reason for bickering and strife, nor for jealousies which break hearts and wreck homes, where there is a faithful husband and a virtuous loving wife.
3. "She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life."
"She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands;
She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar;
She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth meat to her household;
She considereth a field, and buyeth it;
She girdeth her loins with strength;
She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night;
She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff."
Such a woman certainly will do her husband and her household good, and not evil, all the days of her life. Her husband will be known in the gates.
4. "Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come." There can be no regret in coming years, as she reviews her accomplishments.
5. "She openeth her mouth with wisdom: and in her tongue is the law of kindness." A woman may be recognized as the weaker vessel, but this does not in any sense mean that she is least in wisdom and least in love. She has merely been fashioned of a finer steel than her husband. He was made for the great out-of-doors; he was destined to meet the rough and rugged road of daily warfare. The woman was made to be the companion, the solace, and the counselor of her husband. Her words are words of wisdom, and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
6. "She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness." God's virtuous woman is not a beautiful picture to be framed and hung upon the wall; she is not an ornament to be placed upon the table, she is the very life and light of her household. She is not ashamed of honest toil; her greatest joy is in her service.
7. "Her children arise up, and call her blessed." The memories which flood the mind and heart of the sons and of the daughters of a woman such as God's Word describes, are precious indeed.
II. THE CHRIST-MOTHER AND HER SON (Luke 2:19; Luke 2:52)
1.Luke 2:19; Luke 2:19 tells of a mother who pondered God's marvelous and mysterious movements in her heart. Mary knew, of course, every incident connected with the birth of her holy Child. She knew of the visit of Gabriel, and of his marvelous promise. She knew of the joy that filled her soul upon her visit to her cousin, Elizabeth. She knew of the visit of the shepherds, following the message of the angel. All of these things she kept in memory and pondered them in her heart.
We believe that Mary, the mother of Christ, became Mary, the disciple of Christ. She believed in Him with an unwavering trust; she knew that He, her son, was also Son of God, and she revered Him as such, and trusted in His salvation.
2.Luke 2:52; Luke 2:52 tells of the Divine Son who was subject to His parents, and who increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. Jesus Christ, the infant, possessed a human body that grew as any other little body grows; He possessed a mind that became stronger day by day. We may not be able to explain the fact that Christ the babe was God manifest in flesh, and yet that He was, withal, the infant Child who grew in wisdom and in stature.
Isaiah put it this way: "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given."
III. SARAH AND ISAAC (Genesis 21:3-8)
Sarah, like Hannah, longed for a son, and when her son was born, Abraham called him Isaac, which being interpreted, means, "laughter."
In the little child who lay in his mother's arms, was wrapped up all the promises of a covenant-keeping God. Sarah, by faith, saw in Isaac her son, people as the sands of the seashore, innumerable, and as the stars of the heavens, in multitude.
The mother has a right to be a dreamer, a seer of visions. When she rocks her little one to sleep, she is always planning what he shall be in the days of maturity; and, she has a right to plan.
Our only fear is lest some mother fail in her duty toward her child.
Even now we can hear some mothers sighing with broken hearts:
"Where is my wandering boy tonight,
The boy of my tenderest care,
The boy that was once my joy and light,
The boy of my love and prayer?"
IV. JOCHEBED AND MOSES (Exodus 2:1-4)
When Moses was born, there was a command being enforced under the iron rule of Pharaoh that all the male children should be killed. Jochebed was afraid for her son, but, with faith in God, she prepared an ark of bulrushes. She daubed this ark with slime and pitch, and put her baby boy therein. Then she laid her precious burden in the flags of the river's brink.
We are all familiar with the story of how Pharaoh's daughter took the child; and, of how Moses' own mother, Jochebed, was hired to nurse him; and, of how the child grew until, finally, he delivered Israel.
The lesson which we would learn today, is the protection that a mother should afford her son.
We may not have an edict from Pharaoh's cruel pen, but there are many things which would seek to slay our sons, and our daughters. If ever there was a day when children needed to be hid from Satan's snares in the ark of prayer, of a godly life, and of the sheltering Spirit, it is today. Bad books, vile pictures, coarse shows, the card table, the dance, and a thousand other pitfalls have been set to entrap the child.
May God give us many arks of bulrushes.
V. THE SHUNAMMITE AND HER SON (2 Kings 4:25-37)
When Elisha stopped at the home of the Shunammite, he promised she should have a son. When the child grew up, he was the joy of his mother's heart. It came to pass, however, on a certain day, that the boy was stricken in the field, as he went out to his father, among the reapers. He was brought to his mother, and she held him on her knees until noon, and then he died.
When the lad was dead, the mother rushed away to the man of God. Elisha seeing her coming, sent his servant to meet her, and he saluted the Shunammite saying, "Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child?" And she answered, "It is well."
The mother pressed her way on until she came to the Prophet; then she said, "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee." And Elisha arose and followed her. We all know how Elisha, in answer to the mother's quest, bought her lad back from the dead and presented him to her.
The purpose of our study is to see the tender, compassionate, and patient mother's love. First, she prayed for her child; secondly, she cared for the child; and when he was taken sick, she held him upon her knees until he died; and finally, she sought the Lord until He restored him back again.
VI. ELIZABETH AND JOHN BAPTIST (Luke 1:5-7)
John the Baptist was greater than any man born of woman. As we discover somewhat the causes for his greatness, we go back to his parentage. We read of Zacharias, his father, and of Elizabeth, his mother: "And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless."
John the Baptist was great, undoubtedly, because he was brought up with greatest care. The angel had given special instructions as to his food and drink.
A great many people give more attention to raising a fine horse or a fine pig, than they do to raising their children. This is one reason why so many children have gone astray.
AN ILLUSTRATION
R. G. Pearson tells the following:
Let me tell you the story of a believing and praying mother to illustrate this idea of a mother's faith, and to show how God will honor such faith and bless the children therefor. Several years ago I held a meeting in a town in a southwestern state. The events I am going to relate occurred a short time before I reached there. There was in that town a man and his wife and three little children. After a while the father died and the mother was left a widow. She was poor, living in a little rented house, and sewing for a living. Soon she was taken sick, and after a long illness it became evident that she was going to die. The physician was there and a few Christian men and women had gathered in. She said, "Call the children." They were brought in, and she took each little one by the hand and said, "Children, I am going to die today. I am poor, I have no home to leave you, no provisions, no money. I have nothing to leave you but God. I die with faith in Him. He is the God of the covenant. I commit you, my little ones, into His hands. He will take care of you when mother is gone." And so she closed her eyes in death.
Now, the remarkable thing about this is that before that mother was laid in her grave, three of the best men in the town went to the house and each one took one of the little children, and adopted it into his family, and making it his own child; each of these children had as good a home as there was in the town.
Trust the God of the covenant. Mothers, fathers, commit your little ones to Him and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; and God will give you your reward here and hereafter.