Every family has routines and values, and these are closely connected.  Take suburban family life as an example.  On the surface, we can see routines:  wake, eat, drop-off at daycare/school, commute to work, work, commute home, pickup kids, make and eat dinner, get everyone to bed, and repeat.

But we have to ask what values are behind that.  Why do families move to the suburbs?   There are choices, you could live in country, or the city.  Why here?

For some, it’s where they grew up.  Others want to be close to parents, or want their kids to have a yard of a certain size, or to be near nature.

Whatever the values, we chose the routine because of those values.

Yesterday, we saw Jesus shake up his family routine because he was pursuing a higher value.  He called it the will of his Father in heaven.  We have called these kingdom values, and it can be distilled down to loving God, and loving neighbour.

Jesus is challenging the extended family norms of his day, and replacing them with a new one.  A new kind of family.  With this new family will come new routines, all because of those founding values.

The other direction works, too.

We are trying to instill some routines in my family like saying a prayer before a meal (grace), asking our son the best and worst part of day, so we can say thanks to God in prayer, and ask for help or say sorry for the low parts of the day.  We also read a Bible story and say a prayer at bed.  We do this in hopes that our son will learn some values from those routines.

Let’s start simple, and look just at what it means to love God, and love neighbour.

Question: Based on the values of love God, love neighbour, what do you think Jesus’ family routines would be like?   What could your immediate family’s routines look like?

 

Ryan Sim - July 3, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - Knowing

Yesterday, we saw one misunderstanding of Christian faith – that's it's just about saying the right words to go to heaven. Words can be faked, spoken out of fear or manipulation, or we may be afraid of their power. So it’s tempting to say Christian faith is not at all about words, and only about good works. You may know people like this - I knew one who said they didn't need to be part of a Christian community, or church, simply because she was a nurse who cared for sick people. People regularly quote St. Francis of Assisi, who the current Roman Catholic Pope named himself after, as having said something like “Always remember to preach the gospel, and if necessary, use words.” But it’s a misquote, he probably never said it, and probably didn’t belive it. Neither did Jesus. That's why this is the second misunderstanding of Christian faith Jesus wanted to confront. Jesus says he’ll send away those who say, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?" It seems these people did amazing things in Jesus name. They performed many of the same deeds as the disciples. They would prophesy – speaking God’s truth. They were casting out demons, and doing other mighty works – miracles! But these things aren’t enough. For example, with the miracles, it seems God could do great things through people like this. But that didn’t make the person great, and it's apparent they considered themselves great because of their deeds. The problem is their dependence on those great acts. They plan to show up at heaven and explain all they’ve done. Like a celebrity stalker showing up at the celebrity’s house, to tell them how great their imaginary relationship is, and all the things he’s been doing to earn her love. No thank you. I don’t know you. Something is missing. It can’t just be words, can’t just be actions. We'll see tomorrow what it is. Question: If Christian faith was just about doing the right thing, how would this contradict what Jesus said earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, or elsewhere? We meet for coffee every Wednesday night at Starbucks in the Chapters Store in Ajax, in Durham Region just East of Toronto. Maybe we'll see you there?

Related Topics: God, Knowing | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

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