Most of the crimes committed and publicly made known via the news are all sermons in their own right. They are sermons preached from the very rooftop and often addressed to all classes of people in the society. But while people are often pre-occupied with the evil that is done, they are hardly concerned with the root cause of the evil deeds. Crimes are often a pointer to what are amiss in that particular society.
The recent happening (where a 21-year old was involved in the horrible news of sexual perversion with a married man leading to murder) is a very BIG sermon by all account. A sermon also preached from the very rooftop and addressed to all classes of people in the society. No one is spared. It is especially addressed to fathers, to mothers, the children and to the Church. We do well to let it sink to the innermost parts of our belly.
Truths may be “sweet to the mouth”, interesting to the intellect, but they do little or no good until they be “bitter to the belly” (Rev. 10:9-10), until we’ve absorbed their practical lessons. Until they’ve been ruminated upon and digested, we can’t say we have absorbed the truth. And digested food is bitter!
Marriage, and by consequence, the family, is the fundamental unit upon which any good society is built. It is God’s first institution after He finished His creation. A society without a functional family unit is a society doomed to self-destruct.
This BIG sermon is addressed to fathers. A failed family is often due to a failed male-leadership in the home. And the father is the primary male-figure saddled with this responsibility. “For I know that he will command his children, and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord, and do judgment and justice.” We cannot outsource the catechizing and leading of our families to schools, to neighbors, not even to the Church! We have the divine authority and instructions to lead our family in the way of the Lord. To lead by examples and by instructions in righteousness. Notice that Abraham is to first lead by example by commanding “his children, and his household after [himself]”.
We cannot outsource the catechizing and leading of our families to schools, to neighbors, not even to the Church! We have the divine authority and instructions to lead our family in the way of the Lord.
We must avoid evil companion at any costs. The downfall of a once formerly good man is often when he started associating with men of questionable characters, when he started going to questionable places. His conscience started eroding away. His conscience tactfully started becoming disarmed by the evil conversation he engages in with ungodly men. Sooner or later, he started testing the waters! And very soon he dismisses that glorious warning, that “there is nothing hidden to the LORD”, that “whatever we have done/spoken in the secret shall be revealed in the housetop.”
A bad downward spiral can start by any means. More often, many men started by stealing. They started stealing other women’s affection. They started stealing from their wives by expressing affection to another woman. They started taking delight in perverse things. Their consciences started getting dull and there is no one to warn them from this horrendous journey. It maybe they even heard the alarm sounded, but like those appointed to destruction, they refused the “call of the trumpets.”
O fathers, your sin or even weakness in leadership is a snare to the society. The fruits of your evil deeds can go down many generations. Walk worthy! Fear the Lord and eschew ALL evil. Follow the Bible and follow it very closely. Let nothing come between you and that Perfect Law of Liberty!
It is addressed to mothers. Feminism, which sought to abolish the God-appointed order of marriage is a present threat to motherhood. For though the father and mother are both equal before God, yet they have DIFFERENT roles and responsibilities. Feminism advocates for equality AND equal responsibilities. That is a recipe for disaster; the neglect of the divine order. The woman’s primary responsibility is her home; not the field. Her husband is the HEAD of the home. Her top priority is her home, to take good care of it and nurture her children in the way of the Lord. She’s to be married to and support her husband and be available to nurture her children; not to be married to her career. Nothing should be done at the expense of her home; her home is her number one priority. If she failed here, she has failed everywhere. A good woman builds her home, an evil woman scatters it. If a career comes between you and your home, you are to choose your home at any rate.
Feminism, which sought to abolish the God-appointed order of marriage is a present threat to motherhood.
Your absence in the home is a crack the devil will exploit. He will exploit it against your weak husband. He will descend heavily, stealthily at the first, against your children. He will start sowing that seed which, at the first may not be perceptible, but will assuredly germinate and bring forth evil fruits except you kill it by walking aright with God through obedience to God’s will in your marriage. Be available always to take care and nurture your home! Lead your children in the way of the Lord. Be available to your own husband.
It is addressed to young men. Young people must understand that there is judgement. That God is just and holy. No one have excuse before God! Not even because of a failed family unit. We are all going to bear our cross and be judged individually. Children, youths in particular are clearly enjoined to “remember NOW thy Creator in the days of thy youth.” That “better is a dry morsel with quietness/peace than a house full of feasting with strife.” That “the little that the righteous man has is better than the abundance of many wicked people.” Covetousness and lust is often the primary means Satan employs in destroying the lives of young people.
Oh, young man, young woman, whatever a man or woman sow that he/she shall reap. God is no respecter of persons. He deals justly with all. Avoid evil companions. Read and study the Bible that you may be wise, wiser than the devil (Psalm 119:97-104). Pray always especially in private so you can have power against sin and Satan.
How can a young man/woman cleanse his/her ways? It is by staying very close to God of the Bible. Psalm 119:9
To the Church the message is loud and clear. The Church is the “pillar and ground of the truth”. It is the last line of defense against a morally decaying world. She is the SALT of the earth, preserving and sweetening the society. She is a LIGHT, giving direction and clarity to men and society in matters of conscience. It is a force, the only force that truly counts, in stemming the tide of evil in the society and raising people to follow God’s path.
Is our light shining bright? Are we an evangelical force that Christ designed us to be? “How is the gold become dim?” We are quickly losing our preserving and lightening role to the point that Satan and his wicked devices are now at the very inner chambers!
We must awake to righteousness and to our evangelical and discipleship duties! This evil being done by our negligence will pile up and eat us all up. We must go back to discipleship, to disciple fathers to walk worthy and lead their families. To disciple mothers to submit to their husbands in the Lord and nurture their children in the way of the Lord. To instruct and teach children the Bible and the way of holiness and judgement and grace. To sound the trumpets in a clear and authoritative way to the society like Jonah did to Nineveh and like Jeremiah did to Jerusalem.
If we continue to sleep, if we continue to abandon our core responsibilities, the Lord will take away our candlestick and the result will be darkness, even thick darkness in the land.
I’ll conclude with the following Matthew Henry’s commentary on Lamentations 4:1-2:
“How is the gold become dim! how is the finest gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!”
“Behold the sad consequences of sin in the church of old, let us seriously consider to what the same causes may justly bring down the church now. But, Lord, though we have gone from Thee in rebellion, yet turn to us, and turn our hearts to Thee, that we may fear Thy name. Come to us, bless us with awakening, converting, renewing, confirming grace.”
