The Heaton File

Please Take A Survey

It seems we cannot get away from surveys. With each purchase a survey is included to see how the company has performed, the quality of the merchandise, the speed of service, cleanliness of facility, demeanor of personnel, time of day, weather, moon phase and a litany of pressing questions ranked 1-10 everything known under the sun. Surveys serve a purpose for self-examination and companies thrive on the business of product survey as well as employee survey. While the use of examining questions can be somewhat of a nuisance at times there is a lesson that has a sound Biblical principle for the child of God. One of the effective tools for growth and maturity is the use of self-examination.

In the medical field exams are vital to determine good health. In the spiritual field these exams are important to see how the spiritual body is growing or suffering from lack of nutrition. David implored the Lord to examine him and prove him in Psalm 26 and to see what was in his mind and heart. This is a bold request! We can invite people into our homes to see how we live but many things can be hidden from sight. When we invite the Lord to examine our minds and our hearts there is nothing that can be hidden. God knows the heart (Acts 15:8) and asking Him to scrutinize our lives is a bold test of faith.

The apostle John shows the character of examination when he writes, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him. For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God” (1 John 3:18-21). Our motives are not just an outward manifestation of our faith but driven by the inward man whose image is laid clear by the eyes of the Lord. We serve a God who sees our motives, our desires, and our true character.

The Bible reveals three truths of examination the child of God will find that helps mold the Christian character into the image of godliness. The first is found in 2 Corinthians 13:5 – “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.” What Paul is asking is for all of us to take ownership of our lives as we see where we are with our faith in Jesus Christ. We know the answer to the question before the question is asked. Examining ourselves and proving (a stronger word) ourselves is where we come to terms with who we really are. We know that God knows our hearts but not until we acknowledge that we know our hearts can we grow properly.

What will the answer be when the survey is taken? Testing ourselves is to compare my life with the character found in holy scrip. Can I examine myself as a godly husband or wife; an employee that shines in the workplace or a neighbor that seasons those I come in contact with as an influence for good? These are attributes that show my life in the character of Jesus Christ. What is my involvement with the work of the church? How deep is my knowledge of God’s word? When do I see opportunities to talk with others about salvation? Examinations require questions! Tough questions. Hard answers.

The purpose of a life survey is to check our progress along the spiritual road of maturity. The saints of Hebrews 5 were rebuked for failing to grow as they should. “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food” (Hebrews 5:12). Failure to examine oneself can bring about spiritual immaturity. If a child does not grow in body we take them to the doctor for an examination. When we do not grow as a child of God we must examine ourselves – learning how to fill our lives with the proper spiritual nutrients.

A second truth about self-examination is found in Galatians 6:1-5 – “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load.” Taking a survey of our own hearts is necessary when we see how others are overtaken with difficulty. We are not immune to the failings of character. It can be easy to condemn the person who falls but pride proceeds our own destruction (Proverbs 16:18). Satan is just as interested in my life as the life of the one he helped to stumble. We should never think the devil is too busy to bother with my life. Our self-examination helps us to have pity on those who are overtaken in a trespass and strengthen our resolve to resist temptation. The blessing of bearing burdens with others is the knowledge the burden I bear is also my own.

Humility is a virtue that gives vision to our lives in Christ Jesus. This character is the foundation of why we are willing to take survey of our life and to see the truth of who we really are. We can brag like the Pharisee who said, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men.” Or we can be like the tax collector who “would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God be merciful to me a sinner’” (Luke 18:9-14). Jesus spoke this parable “to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.” The tax collector took stock of his life and knew his need for the Lord. Growth is best defined by the realization of our need for the grace of God for without it we are nothing.

A third admonition for self-survey is when we remember the sacrifice of Jesus on the first day of the week. “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Corinthians 11:28). The power of the Lord’s Supper is the weekly remembrance of what Christ did for us and what we are doing for Him. As we take of the emblems honoring the sacrifice of the Son of God we must examine ourselves and commit our souls to the task seeking more courage to serve faithfully the cause of salvation. Jesus committed Himself to the cross; I must commit myself to the cross. The Lord gave His life so that I can be saved; I must give my life in service of self-examination to see that I am in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5) and that I will not stumble (Galatians 6:4).

Our lives can never be full until we see the price Jesus paid for my sins. If we were able to stand on Golgotha and examine the body of Jesus hanging on the cross it would sicken our hearts and minds with grief. He did that for me. He died a most horrible death and it was my fault. He who knew no sin died for me because I wanted to enjoy some pleasure. How awful. How needful for me to examine my life and see my need for the mercy of a loving Father. Examining ourselves in the taking of the Supper is to see who I am and what I am. I am lost without Him and I cannot save myself. I need Him every hour. My life is nothing without Jesus Christ. The memory of His death is something I take with me each day with thanksgiving that He was willing to die for me. God be merciful to me a sinner.

When was the last time I took real stock of my life and examined closely my relationship with God? Paul would proclaim that at best he was the chief among sinners (1 Timothy 1:15). But his life was not burdened with the knowledge of his sin but the joy he knew in being found in favor with God. “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Timothy 4:7-8). The aged apostle examined his life and found God’s love; and he found his own self-worth in knowing that God’s love had redeemed him.

We should all take the survey of David. “O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether … Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalms 139:1-4,23-24). Examine yourselves whether you are in the faith – let each one examine his own work – let a man examine himself. What a survey. And the survey says?

Jesus had come to Jerusalem for the Passover when Nicodemus came to visit Him at night. Many people had believed on Jesus because of the signs which He had done in their midst but the Lord had not committed Himself to them, because He knew the hearts of men would often be devoted one moment and turn against Him the next. The late night visit by a ruler of the Jews must have invigorated the Lord that one in a place of authority and as a Pharisee would seek Him for counsel. The Pharisees constantly harassed Jesus attacking Him because of His miracles and teaching. Nicodemus was not of the same cloth.

The visit at night seems to have some significance as the only other times Nicodemus is mentioned in scripture reference is made to the fact that his visit was at night.  “Nicodemus (he who came to Jesus by night, being one of them) said to them … And Nicodemus, who at first came to Jesus by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds” (John 7:50; 19:39). The recorded conversation was short (just over 400 words). Whether there was more discussion is not revealed in John’s account for afterward Jesus and His disciples went to the land of Judea (John 3:22).

Nicodemus had an honest heart. The signs which Jesus had done (John 2:23) had an impact on this Pharisee unlike what his fellow rulers would come to believe. No doubt Jesus had impacted the Jewish leadership with His actions at the temple (John 2:13-22) and conflict with the establishment of Jewish hierarchy would intensify until they cried, “Crucify Him, crucify Him” (Luke 23:21). But Nicodemus could not deny the power manifested by Jesus and he was willing to acknowledge that no one save one sent from the Father could have such power. “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him” (John 3:2).

Belief in Jesus must begin with belief in His Father (2 Thessalonians 1:8). Later Jesus will be charged (by Pharisees) with casting out demons by “Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons” (Matthew 12:24) but Nicodemus believes in the true power of Jesus as being only from God. Jesus sees the enduring faith of this ruler and immediately goes to the heart of what Nicodemus needs. “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). What a radical thought for the Jewish mind. Jesus is telling Nicodemus his life must take on a sweeping change that puzzles the Jewish ruler to ask, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born” (John 3:4). The point of the lesson is found from an honest heart asking for clarification as he accepts what the Teacher is explaining.

The Lord is not meaning a physical birth as this would be an impossibility. Yet the spiritual birth would require something as impossible for the minds of the people to grasp as pondered by Nicodemus. Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:5-8).

The new birth is unlike the sign of the covenant rooted in the promises of Abraham. Circumcision was the covenant affirmed through Abraham as showing a binding relationship between God and His people. Now Jesus is telling him that salvation is found in being born anew or to be born from above. This new birth is found in water and in the Spirit, not the circumcision of the flesh. Nicodemus is puzzled. Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be” (John 3:9)? It is here that Jesus goes to the heart of His teaching in showing to Nicodemus that the signs seen before (John 2:23) and the sign yet to come (the death of Jesus on a cross) would show men the light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5; 12:46).

Jesus was the Son of God seen through “miracles, wonders, and signs” (Acts 2:22) which God did through Jesus in the midst of the people. While Nicodemus did not know what the death of Jesus would mean to him later, Jesus foretells that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. The crucifixion of Jesus will be the central theme of man’s redemption and belief in the crucified Savior would give man eternal life. This sacrifice was not because man deserved it but only because of the love of Him who gave His only begotten Son to redeem man. Remember that Jesus is explaining what it means to be “born again” and this birth is “of water and Spirit.” The new birth is rooted in the love of God and the sacrifice of the one lifted up.

Rejection of the new birth would be the rejection of the Son of God. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:17-18). Nicodemus could see the connection between the new birth and the sacrifice of the One lifted up. On the day of Pentecost three thousand souls understood the lesson first heard by Nicodemus. Since that time simple hearts have obeyed the voice of Jesus still crying out in the night to honest heart seekers of truth to be born again.

Sadly many have rejected the teaching of Jesus. “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God” (John 3:1-21). More often than not many people today reject baptism as necessary for salvation. Yet the scriptures frequently compare the words of Jesus to the promises found in the water burial. “Having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23). “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation” (Galatians 6:15). “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).

Paul illustrates that spiritual circumcision is the new birth. “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:11-12). He also mirrors the teaching of Jesus to Nicodemus when he writes of the death of Jesus and baptism. “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4).

Nicodemus would defend Jesus later (John 7:50-52) and finally help Joseph of Arimathea to bury the body of Jesus (John 19:38-42). The conversation he had with the Lord that single night must have changed his life forever. He had an honest heart and sought honest answers. His faith was in the simple words of a short conversation. He learned of the new birth and the true meaning of the cross he would later remove the body of Jesus from. We need men and women who have the heart of Nicodemus. He knew that salvation was not by faith alone nor did he just believe John 3:16 as his tenet of faith. The ruler of the Jews obeyed the command of water and Spirit.

The challenge of light and darkness still prevails in the hearts of men. Those who accept the appeal of Jesus will be saved and those who reject it will be lost. “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:16). “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?” (Acts 8:35-36). What about you?

The wise man declared, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver” (Proverbs 25:11). There is so much value in “a word fitly spoken.” The Hebrew for “fitly spoken” here means “set on wheels.” All our words are set on wheels. If they are good words, they are wheeling on for good. If they are evil words, they go wheeling on for evil. Realizing the power of our words we see the beauty of words that are said in the proper manner. The “word” is the fruit set off by its circumstances, as the latter’s beauty is enhanced by the grace of the vessel which contains it. Paul uses this same image in Ephesians 4:29 when he writes “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.”

The tongue is a power creature that can bring about great blessing or terrible pain (James 3). As people of God we should task ourselves with speaking in a manner that edifies others. The word ‘edify’ is Latin for “making a house.” When we edify someone we are building them up. The Revised Version of Ephesians 4:29 suggest “but such as is good for edifying as the need may be.” When is there not a need to hear a good word from others? How often those who are downtrodden are lifted up from the doldrums of despair by a well-placed word of edification.

Jesus was the master of edification. When a leper came to the Lord in Luke 5:12-16 begging to be healed Jesus “put out His hand and touched him say, ‘I am willing; be cleansed” (v13). The emphasis is on the miracle of healing the body but notice also the healing of the mind when Jesus touched the leper and told him “I am willing.” Little children were brought to Jesus that He might lay his hands on them and pray for them (Matthew 19:13-15). Imagine the joy of heart the parents felt as they listened to the Lord offering up prayer for their children. Often in the ministry of the Lord would He take time out to edify the multitudes that came out to Him. “And Jesus, when He came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So He began to teach them many things.” (Mark 6:34)

The compassion shown by the Lord is our motivation to have a heart of kindness toward others. We all need a helping hand. “Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees” (Hebrews 12:12). The church is made up of different kinds of people who are traveling the road of life at different places. There are those who have the strength of Paul who boldly march forth with determined fortitude and faith. So often there are those who just struggle every day with how to be a Christian. I wonder how many leave the path of righteousness because the road becomes weary and hard and few words of edification are given to them. Discouraged and alone they wander off the road to despair.

The church at Corinth had a lot of problems and one was the failure to consider others to stir up love and good works (Hebrews 10:24). Paul reminded them that everyone was important. “For in fact the body is not one member but many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,’ is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?’” (1 Corinthians 12:14-16). They needed to learn the lesson about “words fitly spoken” to help and encourage those who were struggling. Notice a most important lesson Paul gives the saints at Corinth: “And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary” (1 Corinthians 12:21-22).

Words given for edification are words that may help the weaker members. We cannot view the weaker members as unnecessary but rather seek to impart grace to them to edify them to greater service. Weaker members go to heaven also remember! They need help in their struggles just as much as one stronger. Zig Ziglar said, “A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could.” Imagine the good that could be done if we used our speech to impart grace to others rather than constantly criticizing. “God grant that we may not hinder those who are battling their way slowly into the light” (Oswald Chambers).

“A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season, how good it is” (Proverbs 15:23). Imparting grace to others is changing the old man of sin into the new man of Christ. Removed from the speech of God’s people is “anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language … do not lie to one another” (Colossians 3:8-9). The character of the new man is found in the language of grace of putting on “tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:12-17).

It is important to see how our speech is found in all of the traits listed in Colossians 3. We should be strong enough to edify others by our words of encouragement. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion” (Romans 12:14-16). Words! The power of words!

The sign reads, “Touch the future – teach children.” There can be no greater joy than having the opportunity to form lives at the headwater of life as molding the hearts of children. As a blank canvas awaiting the deep pigments of character so a child’s mind absorbs the teaching of those who craft their work in teaching children the wonderful story of God’s love. The wise man declares that children taught early in life will find security in old age. “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6). Unprepared, novice, innocent and filled with hope children enter life with smiles and joy that brighten the hearts of time worn adults who have endured many challenges.

“A child is a man in a small letter, yet the best copy of Adam before he tasted of Eve, or the Apple; … He is nature’s fresh picture newly drawn in oil, which time and much handling dims and defaces. His soul is yet a white paper unscribbled with observations of the world, wherewith at length it becomes a blurred notebook. He is purely happy because he knows no evil” (John Earle, Micro-Cosmographie, 1628). It is that time of childhood that the greatest work of molding a life takes place. In the soft clay of adolescence an enduring character will be formed. Training a child is knowing that a child needs training while a child. “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’” (Ecclesiastes 12:1). The formative years of the child is the “NOW” time. Children must not be discouraged but rather encouraged.

The act of encouragement is to give a child hope and confidence. It is to motivate them with courage offering praise for who they are and what they can become with God’s help. Training a child in the way that he should go is knowing the right way to go – “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Children must be taught to know Jesus Christ. This knowledge is not a cursory knowledge but a deep and abiding love for who Jesus is. Luke records the training of young Jesus in Luke 2:52 “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men.” This four-fold plan is vital to every child.

Children need to be encouraged by the love of parents. “The first, the most fundamental right of childhood is the right to be loved. They child comes into the world alone, defenseless, without resource. Only love can stand between his infant helplessness and the savagery of harsh world” (Paul Hanly Furfey, The Church and the Child, 1933). This love is not dissimilar to how Paul describes it in 1 Corinthians 13. Parents show love to their children by being patient with the growing nature of youth. Parenting is not a competition of envy nor a superior feeling of adulthood over the child. Love does not allow the parent to fly off the handle at a child for a character of adolescence. One of the great tenets of love is that it is not about me but rather “we” or “us.” Children learn best when they see that parents make mistakes also.

Love is not easily provoked or irritated. A child will learn best in love when a parent is patient without losing their temper with yelling and screaming. Remembering the past slights does not endure a child to a loving relationship nor the revelry at past mistakes mold the heart of a child with love. Love does not rejoice in the failings of an imperfect young man or woman but rather believes all things in youth and hopes all things in youth. Children must be encouraged with the best construction put upon everything with faith not suspicion.

Finally love is shown to a child when the parent endures all things for the sake of the child and gives love no matter what. When the storms come love is given. Paul’s use of love in 1 Corinthians 13 is the measure of how we show our love for children; not in word but rather in deed.

Children are encouraged when they are given the chance to use their talents for God. Not everyone will have an ability to excel in certain areas of life but every child has an ability to excel in their life according to their talent. Sometimes the idea is given that “young people are the church of tomorrow.” In fact our young people are the church of today. They have so much to offer and there are so many lessons we can learn from them. Timothy was a young man who was commended by the brethren to Paul (Acts 16:2). The result is evident by two epistles written and preserved for the ages by Paul to this young man (1 & 2 Timothy). They will stumble and mumble when they give their first talk but in a short time through practice and encouragement they will become polished speakers of God’s word. How wonderful to see young people spend time with older folk. Children are encouraged when they find the joy of sitting with older folk during worship services or visiting in their homes. Teaching children to help others is teaching children the need for helping others.

Children are encouraged when they are shown the way of righteousness. The wise man says, “The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of righteousness” (Proverbs 16:31). The joy of older age is the knowledge that youth was spent in learning about the right way and living life lessened by the pains of regret. Parents must show the path of righteousness to their children by their daily example of prayer, mediation on God’s word and hands of benevolence to others. Fathers are not to provoke their children to wrath but “bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). This speaks to the encouragement of children to be trained in the knowledge of God and to be admonished by His word.

Jane Brooks has said, “Our children are like library books on loan with a due date that remains unknown.” We must make the most of every moment with our children to prepare them for the ravaging storms of time. Childhood only happens once and unlike in golf – there are no mulligans or do-overs. Who are children will be tomorrow they are already becoming today. The encouragement given today will be the barrier walls of tomorrow to shield them from the darts of the devil. “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-15).

“The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him” (Proverbs 20:7). There are many things we leave our children when we die. It may be wealth or possessions yet all of these things fade into dust. So often we work all our lives to leave our children something that is of little value and fail to leave them the greatest legacy given by God – righteousness. The wise man exhorts fathers to leave their children an inheritance of a righteous example. Let me walk in such a way that when I am gone my children will know to walk where I have walked in the blessing of God.

Paul gives many admonitions about the family relationship and none is as profound as what he writes in Colossians 3:21. “Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” Proverbs 20:7 seeks to set forth the proper guidance of fathers who set an example of righteousness for their children while Paul deals with the realities of fathers who fail to lead their children in the path of godliness. Two ideas are at play in Colossians 3:21 – FIRST the warning of fathers to take heed in the manner of guiding the hearts of their children. SECOND the knowledge of what a father can do to his children that will have eternal consequence.

A father can discourage his children by creating an atmosphere of commandment-keeping in prohibiting nearly everything the child desires. No matter what the child may ask for or desire the answer will be a harsh “no.” This verbal abuse will wear heavily upon the child afraid to ask for a morsel of bread. Within the limits of parenting there must be boundaries and necessary guidelines prohibiting certain actions for the child’s safety and security. But a father can discourage the child by ruling the home with an iron fist of laws that must be obeyed at a moment’s notice seldom allowing the child any happiness. Life for some children is one perpetual “don’t.”

The character of the child of God is bound by the laws of God but not in a manner that discourages. John writes, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). We are not grieved to be obedient to our heavenly Father. Why should our fleshly children live a life of grief because of our oppression upon them? The child will grow to hate rules because he could never do anything right and always had to live in a home filled with the commandments of a father who ruled with a heavy hand.

Teaching righteousness is to show the manner God instructs His people with goodness and severity (Romans 11:22) as needed. When the Lord dealt with Israel He would bless them with so many good and wonderful things. At times He would have to discipline them as they tested Him. But the end result was still the cry of the people of the righteous judgment of a loving Father. “Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them” (Hosea 14:9).

Another reason children will be discouraged is because the father will be an unfeeling tyrant. “If a Christian father is felt to be a tyrant, he will seem to his child to be a tyrant in God’s name, and that will be enough to create a sullen prejudice against all sacred things. Nor is the case improved when the child is cowed into fear of such a parent, and thus reduced to submission. There is a beautiful courage in a child’s approach to God; but if his courage even toward his father is broken down, he will only shrink from God with a greater fear” (H. Bushnell).

Paul outlined characteristics of the Christian in Colossians 3:12, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering.” Fathers who are not filled with tender mercy toward their children will cause them to be discouraged. Fathers who do not act with kindness toward their children will discourage them. When a father fails to show humility before his son he has failed as a father. Parenting can only be done with meekness and longsuffering and fathers who do not exercise these traits toward their children will discourage them.

Children will become discouraged when their fathers do exactly what the Lord prohibits them to do: “But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth” (Colossians 3:8). Verbal abuse by fathers is a sin. When a man stands in front of his son or daughter berating them with words of insult and anger he stands in judgment of the Father in heaven who will render His own justice to such a man. Provoking children causes discouragement. Discouragement can bring about eternal damnation to the soul of the child.

Abraham commanded his family in the way of the Lord (Genesis 18:19). His leadership was guiding the family in the paths of righteousness by example. The legacy he leaves is one of noble character as a man who trains his children in the way of God. The formula for fatherhood is Proverbs 22:6 – “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Someone said it this way: “Train up a child in the way he should go AND GO THAT WAY YOURSELF.” You cannot show your children a way you are not going yourself.

Children can be discouraged because of the manner of life they see in their father day to day and the way he acts at church services or around other Christians. “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). Training children in the Lord is done by word and deed. A father who prays at worship as he prays at home is leading his child in godliness. When a man rules his home with oppression he has no hands for prayer. The word of God should be the word of the day in the home guided by the voice of a father who humbly shows the path of truth to his family. He shows his children love by loving his wife. He shows his children wisdom by seeking God’s word for answers. He shows his children the life of Jesus in living for Jesus each day.

The common sin for fathers is the provoking of their children. We must be careful to mold our character as spiritual leaders in the home. As fathers we must teach our sons the leadership of Christ. As fathers we must teach our daughters the love of Christ. Some men will need to change their lives to become as God desires; repent if necessary asking forgiveness of family and God. What power is held in the hands of he who garners the head waters of a mighty stream. Contained within the role of a father is the eternal guiding of young hearts to the throne of God. May God bless every father who strives to be a man of God to his family.

The Roman Catholic Church has made news again with its difficulty in deciding how to best address the question of homosexuality. A recent Vatican report suggest the RCC should “welcome and appreciate gays” and quoting John Thavis, a former Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service, “Regarding homosexuals, it went so far as to pose the question whether the church could accept and value their sexual orientation without compromising Catholic doctrine” (Delia Gallagher, CNN; October 13, 2014). The CNN article goes on to say, “The Catholic Catechism calls homosexual acts ‘intrinsically disordered’ and calls on gays and lesbians to live in chastity. Under Pope Benedict XVI, the church had tried to purge men with ‘deep-seated homosexual tendencies’ from the priesthood. But Pope Francis, while hewing to Catholic teaching, has signaled a gentler tone, famously saying in 2013 ‘Who am I to judge?’ gays and lesbians.”

It is clear by these overtones toward homosexuals the Roman Catholic Church is moving towards its own fundamental beliefs that whatever is determined by the Pope is the belief and practice of the Roman Catholic Church. Left out of this process is what God has to say about the subject. With this new appeal to accept the homosexual and same-sex marriage dogma of the humanist man the Roman Catholic Church is shedding its veneer of faith. As water seeks its own level the teachings of men cascade toward the abyss of the lies of Satan.

Pope Francis will eventually bend to the persuasions of societal mantras to embrace the rights of same-sex marriage and acceptance of homosexuality. By his own words he shows the fallibility of his own office and mockery of the truth of the word of God. It is not his place to judge and for this point he is absolutely correct. “For the Lord is our Judge, The Lord is our Lawgiver, The Lord is our King; He will save us” (Isaiah 33:22). James writes, “There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another” (James 4:12). He answers that question in verse 15 when he says it is the “Lord’s will.”

The Bible (not the Roman Catholic Church nor the Pope) condemns homosexuality in very clear terms. “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them” (Romans 1:24-32).

Homosexuality is not love, it is lust. The act dishonors what God has created. Accepting homosexuality is against the “truth of God” and is nothing more than a “lie.” It is based upon the carnal desires of men for men and women for women; i.e. serving the lustful passion of the creation (flesh). Homosexuality is a “vile passion” or “degrading passions” and is against nature. This sin is shameful and often will find penalty as a result. The philosophy of this lie is a failure to retain God in their knowledge and His will and design is rejected. A debased mind or a mind rejecting the natural purpose of man and woman is the root of this evil. It is unrighteous, immoral, wicked, coveting of self-desires, malicious, envious, deceitful and hating of God. All of this is what the Lord said in Romans 1.

Paul further writes in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” In very plain language the apostle writes to a church located in a city given over to the paganism of Aphrodite. Corinth was well known as a city of drunken and immoral debauchery. He exhorts the Christians to recognize the wickedness of homosexuality and sodomites as repugnant to the will of God.

When men go away from the word of God they will embrace all the tenets of the word of Satan. The Episcopal Church has already declared its acceptance of the homosexual as well as many other religions. The end result of apostasy is the creation of a man-made religion satisfying the desires of a man-made faith centered upon a man-size desire for pleasure. The Pope has fully declared that it will be possible to accept what the Lord God has clearly defined as wickedness. But that is why this action affirms the Roman Catholic Church as nothing more than a machine invented by man to supplant the true church of the Lord as found in the scriptures.

The Roman Catholic Church does not believe in the Bible because nothing in scripture accepts anything more than what Jesus Christ Himself declared in Matthew 19:4-6, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE,’ and said, ‘FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH’ ? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.” The changing whims of modern day man will not change this.

Homosexuality is as much wickedness as lying, stealing, adultery, extortion, cursing and murder. Jesus died on the cross to save the homosexual from sin and until that person comes to Christ for the cleansing blood that washes away sin there remains no hope of eternal life. Paul noted in 1 Corinthians 6 that among those who were homosexuals “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). There is hope for those in sin. No one should every view the scriptures as a final condemnation on a person who struggles with sin. A homosexual can repent and become as God would have him be in obedience to the will of God. We should encourage and embrace those who desire to follow God’s will. Repentance demands a cessation of sin and this is true of homosexuality. Compassion – not hatred – must be given to those in sin.

The reason the Roman Catholic Church must embrace same-sex marriage and the acceptance of homosexuality is because it is nothing more than a machine built by man to satisfy the curiosity of man’s wisdom. This church is not founded on God’s word so what difference does it make? The Son of God said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch” (Matthew 15:13-14).