Families Under Attack
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton
I. We know that Satan is always looking for ways to destroy the works of God (I Peter 5:8)
A. Sometimes his attacks are direct, but often they are subtle, so subtle that we often cannot pinpoint when the change took place and we started to stray from God’s path.
B. Satan doesn’t attack from just one direction, he use a multi-prong approach. (Eph. 6:16 - fiery darts) We may deflect a few darts, but if one or two get through and wound us, then Satan can tear us down.
C. To destroy the church, Satan doesn’t just attack each individual Christian, he is also altering the fabric of society that had allowed the church to flourish in the past.
1. Have you notice that the church is not growing like it once had? What has changed? Certainly, it is not the message.
2. There are forces in society at work that make it difficult for the seed of the gospel to take root and grow.
3. Those forces not only affect reaching the lost with the gospel, but it also affects those in our own families.
4. Think of the amount of damage Satan can do if he prevents Christians from passing on their faith and knowledge to their own children!
II. Changing the definition of a family
A. What constitutes a family?
1. Not too long ago the idea was clear — a family was generally made of a husband, wife, and their children. Extended families included other relatives by birth or marriage.
a. Some families experienced tragedies that took a member from them, but the basic structure remained the same
b. Not everyone met the standards, but everyone acknowledged the ideal.
c. Genesis 2:24 - The husband and wife is the core of the family.
2. In the 1960's, there was an effort to blur the idea of marriage
a. Unrestricted sex outside the bonds of marriage
b. Alternative marriage arrangements, such as communes, mate sharing, living together
c. These were glorified in textbooks as social experimentation (I have textbooks)
3. Some faded out because they are unworkable relationships, others continue in mockery of God’s institution.
a. Living together - the Bible calls it fornication
b. Communes and mate sharing - the Bible calls it adultery.
c. But the people don’t want to hear of it - Isaiah 6:9-10
d. Isaiah 28:9-13 - The people don’t want to live their lives by rules
B. The blurring continues with the push to accept homosexual relationships as just another alternative to the marriage of husband and wife.
1. I don’t think people in the 1970's would have imagined that in 20 years that speaking against the sin of homosexuality would be considered wrong, but that our society has legitimized it with insurance benefits and talk of state recognized marriages!
2. Let’s face the facts, the people love to have it this way! - Jer. 5:21-31
III. Who is in charge?
A. The altering of the rules which govern society have their predictable results, our society is rapidly becoming more violent
B. What is interesting is the response, instead of saying “Opps, we made a mistake! Let’s go back to safe ground.” we have people saying, “We told you there were problems, we need even more fixes.”
1. I have heard and read where people are blaming today’s woes on the Christian principles that our society use to follow!
C. Man cannot direct his own path - Jer. 10:23
1. We must have a higher authority to answer to.
2. Pr. 20:24 - How can man understand his own path? He can’t see the full conclusion. He hasn’t traveled that way before.
D. Have you noticed society taking over aspects of the family?
1. Father isn’t an adequate provider, so the government will help.
2. Parents are too busy working, so we have government sponsored child care.
3. Social experimentation is advocated in schools.
4. Superintendents are now telling parents that parents have no say what happens to their children while they are in school.
IV. What are we teaching the children?
A. Pr. 22:6 - Train a child when young and it will be a habit when he is old.
B. What the schools are teaching
1. Sex outside of marriage is okay, so long as you are careful in how it is done.
2. People can’t help being homosexuals, they are born that way, so we must accept the practice.
3. Independent thinking is good, so don’t listen to parents their ideas may not be your ideas.
4. Situation Ethics — there is no absolute right or wrong, it depends on the situation.
C. What society is teaching
1. There is too much child abuse, so we must eliminate all forms of physical discipline.
2. Abortion is a legitimate form of birth control.
D. What the media is teaching
1. Sex outside of marriage is common and acceptable.
2. Foul language is the normal way of talking.
3. Homosexuality is a major media event.
4. Commercials that glorify near nudity and the public display of undergarments as fashion statements.
E. What kind of habits are we forming?
V. Nothing has happened overnight, we are seeing the accumulations of years of small changes.
A. They won’t stop. Most likely it will get worse given the past history of mankind.
B. We need voices of reason. - Phil 2:15-16
C. Perhaps we can reverse a trend.
