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 - May 8, 2014

Thursday - Act On It - Pioneer Story

My wife and I sometimes reminisce about our university days, a time in our life we both had closeknit groups of friends, all living close to one another, all dedicated to some common academic pursuits. With so much more going on in our lives now, and living in so many places, we’ve maintained those friendships but not with the intensity of those early years. Those are some of the same characteristics of the early Christians we’ve been studying this week, who spent time living in close proximity, united, but for a very different purpose: praying to begin their work of expanding the kingdom of God. These were the early days, with the intensity and fervour that people are still talking about, and trying to replicate today. Every church community today is meant to be patterned after this one, and that’s why we’ll explore this in detail over the next few months. Not to say every aspect is to be copied…some things were simply cultural, or circumstantial. We have to differentiate those from the eternal aspects. I think the first thing for us to consider is their dedication to prayer. I know this is always a challenge for me – to be dedicated, and fervent in prayer like these first Christians were. Yet I know that prayer always precedes any great move of God. As we prepare for our community to take some big steps this fall, and start to meet together as this biblical community did, our small groups and individuals need to pay attention to prayer. Challenge: Pray with your group for this upcoming series. Pray that God will unite you through common experiences, and send you out in mission to include others and help them follow Jesus too. See you tomorrow, when we’ll spend some more time in prayer. See you then.

Related Topics: Church, Early Church, Pioneer | More Messages from Ryan Sim | Download Audio

From Series: "Pioneer Story"

We read through the Book of Acts as a Pioneer Story for the church.

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