Category Archives: Family & Society

The sluggard – sermon notes

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Here are notes of a sermon on work, based on relevant passages in the book of Proverbs.

Work is, of course, a major part of most people’s lives.  For many people, work (in the form of paid employment) takes up half their waking hours.  And then there’s all the other kinds of work that people do – housework, school-work, voluntary work and all the rest.  Many people – especially women – work long and unsocial hours caring for children and families, and this is surely one of the most valuable kinds of work of all.…

Guidelines for parents

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  1. Acknowledge that your child is a gift from God. (see Ps 127:3, GNB)
  2. Dedicate your child to the Lord to be used in his service. (see 1 Sa 1:11, RSV)
  3. Make a personal commitment to God to grow as a Christian parent.
  4. Identify your values and convey these values consistently in your behavior.
  5. Express to your children love and acceptance.
  6. View discipline as an ongoing process of helping your children ultimately to become self-controlled and self-disciplined.
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Duties of parents

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  1. Encouragement, 1 Chron 28:20.
  2. Reproof, Pr 19:18.
  3. Instruction, Pr 22:6; Eph 6:4; 2 Tim 3:15.
  4. Provision, 1 Tim 5:8.
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Salvation of infants

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Some maintain that all those dying in infancy are regenerated. Spurgeon attempted to demonstrate this from 2 Sam 12:23 (New Park Street Pulpit, 1861, p509).

If infants are saved, it must be on the basis of redemptive grace, Jn 3:3; 1 Tim 2:5. Scripture indicates that it is possible to be filled by the Holy Spirit from an early age, Lk 1:15, cf Ps 22:10. This implies an intuitive knowledge of God, apart from usual process of hearing and understanding the gospel.…

Biblical ethics

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In biblical teaching, religion and morality are intimately connected: the religious person is a moral person, and vice versa, Psa 14:1.

Biblical ethics are

  1. personal – they are grounded in the character or God: we are to be holy because he is holy, Lev 19:2.  They are addressed to persons who must make thoughtful decisions, Lev 26:3; Phil 4:8f.
  2. theistic – they focus on God.  To know God is to practice righteousness and justice, Jer 22:15f.
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Stealing

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Stealing is big business. Shoplifting in France is described as a national pastime. In our own country, over ten million pounds per day are lost through shoplifting. Marks and Spencer spends twenty million pounds per year on security, but still loses thirty million in stolen goods. One woman boasts that she can make thirteen hundred pounds a day by shoplifting.

The most notorious theft in the history of British crime took place on Thursday, August 8th 1963.…

Adultery

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General references to Ex 20:14 Le 20:10 Job 24:15 Mt 5:27 19:9 Rom 7:3 1 Cor 6:9 2 Pet 2:14

Adultery is the name given to a sexual relationship by a married person with someone other than his or her legal spouse.

The most notorious case in the OT is that of David, 2 Sam 11:2-12:25.

Adultery is a sin against both God and other human beings, Gen 20:6 Ex 20:14.

Adultery breaks the great commandment to love one’s neighbour, Rom 13:9.…

Work and play

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1. In the light of CREATION

God himself sets the example, Gen 2:1-3. God calls us into partnership with him, Gen 2:15. God has made this world our workplace and our playground, Gen 1:28. God has established a cycle of work and play, Ex 20:8-11.

2. In the light of THE FALL

Work tends to become a hardship, Gen 3:17-19. The worker tends to become selfish, lazy, disobedient, dishonest, 2 Thess 3:6-12. Play tends to become perverted from its original purpose: (a) it may become commercialised and over-competitive; (a) it may become destructive of work, education, physical health, family life or spiritual well-being.…

The mutual love of husband and wife

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Richard Baxter spells out the mutual love that a husband and wife must have for one another:-

I pray you, next tell me my duty to my wife and hers to me.

The common duty of husband and wife is,

1. Entirely to love each other; and therefore choose one that is truly lovely.… ;and avoid all things that tend to quench your love.

2. To dwell together, and enjoy each other, and faithfully join as helpers in the education of their children, the government of the family, and the management of their worldly business.…

Puritans on male leadership

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According to J.I Packer, the Puritans advanced four arguments confirming the rightness of male leadership as adumbrated in Milton’s ‘he for God only, she for God in him’:-

  1. The argument from creation: the man was made first, then the woman, and the woman was made to benefit the man as a suitable helper for him.
  2. The argument from the story of the Fall: the woman was first in the transgression, and God decreed in judgement that henceforth her husband should rule over her.
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