James David Malm
The
coming Kingdom of God is a government. And like any other government it has territory, it has people and
it has laws. It has rules of behavior. Laws to protect the weak and the innocent. Laws to ensure the smooth running of the
government and the economy.
The ruler of the Kingdom of God, like leaders or rulers of any other government expect their laws to be obeyed. For
the good of the kingdom, the good of the government and the good of all the people.
It is in any government, in any kingdom, in any national entity, the first responsibility
of all people to obey the laws of their particular government. The same is true in the Kingdom of God. God's government,
God's kingdom is no different than any other. It is ruled by a system of laws.
We call these; the commandments of God. It is the responsibility of everyone within
that government, within that kingdom, every citizen to keep the commandments of God, to keep the law of God, which is the
law of the land.
It is the absolute duty of ministers,
of governments or persons in authority or occupying positions of leadership to set an example for the people by keeping and
obeying the laws of the land.
The same is true in the government
of God. Through the last 6,000 years of human history, God has been calling up various individuals to train for and prepare
for, having a part in the leadership or ministerial positions within the government of God.
These people are learning to occupy these positions of responsibility by learning to
keep the commandments. Learning to obey God, learning to be loyal to the King of the coming Kingdom of God. In this life we
all hold positions of responsibility. Whether it is as mothers, teaching our children or husbands and fathers taking care
of our families or various offices in business or as ministers within the church.
Ministers in the church are only elder brothers within the congregation tasked with
the responsibility of helping their younger brothers. And like any other elder brother, their principal function is to focus
the attention of the younger members of the family upon the Father.
In the kingdom we call the king, God the Father, and thorough him Jesus Christ will rule all nations. It is
the responsibility of the ministry to focus all people upon the Father. It is the responsibility of human fathers to focus
their families upon God the Father and to teach them to keep the laws of the coming kingdom.
It is the function of both parents to diligently teach their children to keep the commandments
to prepare them for the day when the kingdom will come. And they will be citizens within that kingdom. And in that kingdom,
they will be expected to keep the laws of that kingdom.
Last time I talked about the keys of the kingdom of heaven which were given to Peter. In Matthew 16, Jesus
said, I will give to you the keys of the kingdom. We cover throughout that talk the various aspects of those keys. The keys
to the kingdom are the gospel of repentance, baptism and the acceptance of the applied sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb
of God for our sins.
When those steps have been taken
and completed, the door to the kingdom will be opened and we will have direct access to the king of that kingdom, to God the
Father through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Having direct access to the throne of the great King of the universe,
the Father himself.
Our access to the Father is only
through repentance from breaking the commandments. It is only through the application of the sacrifice of Christ for our past
commandment breaking, for our sin.
The sacrifice
covers sins repented of. It does not justify continuing in sin, anymore than paying a fine for going through a traffic light
justifies a person continuing to break that particular traffic law.
When we are sorry, we repent and the penalty is paid for breaking a law. That is not license to go out and
break the law again. We must now continue in law abiding, in law keeping. And not go back to the crime of law breaking, which
resulted in the need for punishment.
The fact
that Jesus Christ paid our punishment, paid our debt that we owe to the king and to the kingdom for having broken the laws
of the kingdom, in no way justifies our continuing to break those laws. If we continue to break those laws, we make a mockery
of the sacrifice of Christ and we make a mockery of God's forgiveness.
To go and break a law and claim to repent and claim to be sorry and break it again and break it again. Going
through the cycle endlessly is just a shameless mockery and God will not put up with it for long.
The keys of the kingdom which Jesus Christ gave to Peter and to the other disciples
was the Gospel. The good news of the coming Kingdom of God and the good news of how we can have a part in that kingdom. Our
part comes through repentance. It comes through turning away from law breaking. It comes through embracing the word and commandments
of God, the law of that kingdom. And it comes through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who paid the penalty for our past law
breaking.
These are the keys of the kingdom.
These are the things which will open the door and get you into the Kingdom of God. Belief in God, repentance of sins which
is commandment breaking and embracing Jesus Christ and his sacrifice being applied to us as a result of our repentance.
These are the keys given to Peter. These are the keys
which have been given to the ministry all down through the ages. That is the duty and responsibility of the ministry. First,
to keep all the commandments of God and to set a godly example for all men. And second to teach repentance, forgiveness, conversion
and acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, to teach the keeping of the commandments of God, the law of the kingdom.
That is the prime responsibility of the ministry, to
teach these things to the whole world and especially to feed my sheep. As Jesus said, teach these things to my sheep, feed
my sheep, feed my people. The responsibility of the ministry is to teach the good news of the coming Kingdom of God and the
good news of how we can have a place in that kingdom. Of how we can we can enter that kingdom. The good news of the way to
salvation.
The primary function of a minister
is to lead by example. To keep the commandments of God and to teach God's people and to preach the good news of repentance
and salvation and the coming Kingdom of God to the whole world.
So, how then should a minister behave? We find instructions in 1 Timothy 3, This is a true saying, if a man
desire the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless. He must be free from law-breaking.
No one should ever be able to accuse him of breaking the laws of the kingdom, the commandments of God.
He must be the husband of one wife. This can mean that he should have only one wife
and not many. And it can also mean that he should have a wife, that a minister should not be a single person. Now, if a man's
been married for a long time and he loses her, perhaps being widowed, he still has had a wife. He has had the experience of
marriage. The experience of learning to relate to and get along with a wife. So that he is better able to counsel, advise
and assist others who are married with their problems.
If one
hasn't experienced these things, it is almost impossible to really understand what people are going through and to really
be able to give wise advice. Wisdom comes through experience in keeping the commandments of God.
A minister or bishop should be vigilant. That is, always alert and aware of temptation
and of the commandments and what is going on. He should be sober, that is sober-minded. He should not be given to extremes
of behavior or attitude, in anything. He should be balanced, sober-minded.
He should be of a good behavior. That is, his conduct should be consistent with his office. He should not only
keep the commandments of God but he should be aware of the dignity of his office. And the fact that he should not by being
foolish or doing stupid things bring disrepute upon his office and upon himself and upon the church.
He should be given to hospitality. That is, a hospitable man. A man who thinks about
the needs of others, who is concerned about the welfare, the needs and the feelings of others. A hospitable person tries to
bring comfort to his guests and to his friends. He should be apt to teach. He should be able to speak to people in a way and
at a level that they could understand.
He
should not be trying to impress people with all the big words he knows or the complex way that he has of expressing himself.
His purpose, his responsibility is to get through to people, to get the point of across the people, to teach people to help
them to learn and to grow.
His responsibility is not to
impress people with how great he is or how smart he or how educated. His responsibility is to pass which to others, so that
they too can be educated in the ways of faith.
In verse 3, this bishop or any minister should not be given to wine. Certainly not be a drunkard and not be an alcoholic.
He should not want to drink alcohol on a regular basis. On a rare special occasion perhaps but certainly not regularly and
not to drunkenness.
He should be no striker. That
is he should not be fighter and one quick to quarrel. He should be patient and not a brawler, not covetous and not greedy
of filthy lucre, greedy of personal wealth or advantage. He should be one that rules well his own house. Having his children
in objection with all gravity.
That does
not mean that he brutalizes his children or over disciplines them or smacks them or spanks them every time they do something
which he doesn't like. He must learn to rule his children, his household wisely.
He must learn to rule his household in the same way that our Father in heaven rules
his household. Is our father quick to punish us or is he patient? Is he loving? Is he kind? Is he forgiving? Or does he brutalize
us hour by hour through the course of the day and through our lives?
That is not how to treat children. We should be treating our children in the way that our Father treats us.
With patience, with wisdom, with common sense, with discipline where it is necessary but more often with compassion and love.
Now, in verse 5, For if a man know not how to rule his
own house, how shall he take care of the church of God. He should not be a novice or someone new in the faith. He should be
someone with experience lest being lifted up with pride he fall into condemnation. A young person who is promoted too quickly
tends to become a little proud, a little arrogant.
He should pay his dues. We all need to pay our dues through
experience in order to establish and develop the kind of wisdom needed to properly oversee the church of God.
Verse 7, he must have a good report of those who are
without; outside the faith. He must have a good reputation of all men. To people outside the faith look at you and say, "Well
there's an honest man. There's a good man. I don't agree with his beliefs but he's a fine man." But when
they look at him and say, "What a sleazebag."
You know, your reputation, when you have an office in the church becomes the reputation of the church. You
must be of good reputation to be a minister in the church. And if you are not a good of reputation, you'd better repent
quickly and take some time off to learn how to do things right and to develop a positive reputation.
Verse 8, Likewise must the deacons be grave and not double-tongued, not two-faced. Not
saying one thing to one person and another thing to another person. Not given to wine, not greedy of filthy lucre and holding
the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. That these also first be proved and then let them use the office of a deacon,
being found blameless. The same should be said about any minister or bishop or anyone who holds any kind of office within
the church.
Jesus Christ said to Peter and
through him, he spoke to all the ministry. He said, feed my sheep. So, what happens when a minister is more concerned with
feeding himself than feeding the sheep? What if he heaps burdens on the people in order to live the high life? What if he
does covet filthy lucre, if he does want the good things of life, if he does want to have a grand house, a great car and all
the best of everything, if he does want to exalt himself instead of humbling himself, if he does look at it as the sheep serving
him, instead of the him serving the sheep?
A certain minister
once came to Vancouver and he was a new minister to us and he gave us his first speech. He stood up there and he says, "Let's
get one thing straight brethren. I'm not here to serve you. You are here to serve me." That is an appalling attitude.
But it was an attitude extent in the Worldwide Church of God in the 80's, as it is extent in most of the various groups
of the Church of God today. The ministry does not want to serve the people. They want to be served by the people.
What does Almighty God have to say about that? We find
his answer in Ezekiel 34, And the word of the Lord came into me saying, Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,
prophesy, and say unto them, Thus said the Lord God unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves!
Should not the shepherds feed the flock?
You eat the fat, the good things and you clothe yourselves with the best
wool, you kill them that have fed: but you feed not the flock. The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed
that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven
away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them. And they were scattered,
because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
What can we say about the church today are not the sheep
scattered? Are there not hundreds of groups and perhaps hundreds more standing alone and why is this? Because the shepherds
make merchandise of the sheep. And they seek preeminence and they fight amongst themselves for position of the fox and the
sheep are scattered with a sad, sad state of affairs.
Verse 6, My sheep wandered through the mountains, upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all
the face of the earth, and none did seek or search after them. Isn't that the truth today? People, ministers are so interested
in their own little group, in fleecing their own little flock that they can't be bothered caring about anyone or anything
else. They can't be bothered with looking after or taking care of the scattered sheep.
Therefore you shepherds, you ministers in the Church of God today, hear the word of
the Eternal, As I live, saith the Lord God, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast
of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves,
and fed not my flock;
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord; Thus
saith the eternal God; Behold, I am against the shepherds, the ministry of Church of God, and I will require my flock at their
hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver
my flock out of their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
For thus saith the Eternal God; Behold, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd
seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver
them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And will bring them out from, among people,
and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the
rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
And I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall
they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will
cause them to lie down in safety, saith the Eternal. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven
away and bind up that which was broken and strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will
feed them with judgment.
As for you, O my flock, saith
the Eternal God; Behold, I will judge between flocks and flocks and between the rams and he-goats. Does it seem a small thing
unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? You shepherds,
you have drunk of the deep waters and you must foul the residue with your feet? And as for my flock, they eat that which you
have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.
Therefore thus saith the Lord God unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the
fat cattle and between the lean cattle. Because you have thrust the [unintelligible] with side and shoulder, and pushed the
diseased with your horns, so you have scattered them abroad; I will save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I
will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David;
he shall feed them, and he shall deliver them.
This whole chapter is talking about the nation of Israel and how they will be scattered by their enemies because they had
lost sight of God. And how God will eventually deliver them and a resurrected David shall be king over all Israel. But this
is also talking about on a different plane, on a spiritual plane.
It is talking about God's people at this time, his church and how the ministry abuse and make merchandise
of God's sheep and divide them and scatter them. And God says he will not hold those shepherd guiltless, should they not
feed the sheep and not have fed themselves.
This is what God wants. He wants his ministry to set an example of keeping God's commandments. To set an example of
righteousness, of not being guilty of desiring filthy lucre or monetary and physical advantage and gain, not guilty of drunkenness
and lewdness and bullying and dominating.
He wants his ministers to be faithful to him, to follow the example of Jesus Christ, who gave himself for the sheep. Who
gave himself totally, fully, completely, pouring out his blood, his life's blood for the sheep. That's how he wants
the ministers to behave. To keep the commandments of God. To teach the ways of God. To set an example, following the example
of Jesus Christ and living in a godly fashion. Giving himself for the sheep. Not using the sheep to [unintelligible] himself.
Never ever, ever saying the sheep are here to serve them. Rather saying that he is there to serve the sheep.
This is what God expects of his ministry. He expects
a life of godly service. Teaching people to keep all God's commandments. Teaching them to love one another. Teaching them
to love God and teaching them to follow the example of Jesus Christ. And doing a good part of his teaching not with words
but by their own example.
This is the shepherd that God
will accept. This is ministry that God will accept. A ministry of service to the people of God. A ministry of obedience to
the commandment of Jesus Christ, who said; feed my sheep.
God the Father created physical things in a certain way, to teach us lessons about himself. To what then shall
we liken God and to what shall we liken the church and the kingdom? Is it not the family? Did God not say that we should call
him Father? Did he not provide a son? Did he not tell us that we should marry husband and wife? And did he not say that such
a marriage was an allegory of Christ's relationship with the church?
The church is to become the bride of Christ, a chaste virgin to be presented to Christ.
You know these scriptures. There are very many scattered throughout the Bible. But let us first turn to Ephesians in chapter
5, starting in verse 20. We should be giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ; Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife,
even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject to Christ,
so let wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and
gave himself for it.
You husbands, do you love your
wives to the point of giving your lives for your wives? Are you willing to submit yourself and your needs to the needs of
your wife? Are you willing to serve your wife as Christ serve the church? Christ taught the church. He serves the church.
He humbles himself, to give himself to the church that he loved. The church was his wife.
Do you husbands serve your wives? Do you give up your own special desires for your wife?
Do you give up going to the pub every night to have the money to buy her a new dress? Do you care about her enough to spend
time with her? Do you really follow the example of Jesus Christ in how you lead your wife?
Yes wives are to submit to their husbands. But also as in verse 21, submit yourselves
one to another in the fear of God. You must love your wife. Take care of them. Fulfill your vows that you made on your wedding
day.
A whole lot of marriage problems could be solved
instantly if people, both husbands and wives were to simply realize that when they stood on their wedding day and repeated
those vows, they were not making vows to one another.
They were making vows to Almighty God. They were telling God, I will love and serve and obey my husband. And
the husband is telling God, I promise you God, that I will love and take care of and give myself totally and completely for
my wife. Subjecting all my desires to her needs. And the wife saying, I will subject all my desires to his needs.
So that both parties were to have the attitude of total
commitment and total love and total service toward each other. Following the example of Jesus Christ who totally committed
himself to the Father and through the Father totally committed himself to serving the church. Giving himself for the church,
feeding the sheep, caring for them, being a good shepherd and leading them to green pasture.
In Ephesians 5, Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so do wives be subject
to their husband. And husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify
and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot,
or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So, ought men to love their wives as their
own bodies, their own lives. He that loves his wife loves himself.
How many men say, my wife should submit to me. Maybe she's not submitting to you because you are an overbearing,
cruel tyrant. And the example you set is offensive and puts her off and destroys any respect that she might have for you.
If she is submitting to you it is because you should be a leader. And a leader leads by setting a godly example.
If you love her the way Christ love the church that
you gave yourself for her good. If you respected her deeds and her respected her ideas and opinion and spend time with her.
And when making a decision you discuss it with her and got her input and reason it out together with her and made the decision
together, you would find that she would start having some respect for you.
To be loved, you must be loveable. To be having friends, you must show yourself friendly. To have respect,
you must be respectable and you must respect others. You must lead the way by setting the example. If you set an example of
being mean or bullying or dominating, your wife will pick up on that and she will be offended by that and turned off by that
and it will definitely affect your relationship.
Any man who bullies his wife or abuses her or hits her, deserves to be taken out, in my opinion and have the same thing
done to him. If you beat your wife, you should be taken out and lashed, as far as I'm concerned. And I think God feels
the same way. There are not going to be any bullies in his kingdom. You have to learn to treat your wife the way Jesus Christ
treats you. The way he treats his people, his church.
If you are going to be in God's kingdom, you must be full of love, which is a gift from the God of love.
And if you are a bully, if you are dominating, it just proves one thing you are very, very far from God. And you are not setting
a godly example.
Now, you wives don't blame
your husband’s for everything you do wrong either. Try your best to be cooperative and loving and caring toward your
husbands and if both sides were committed to each other and committed to considering the other as of more importance and their
needs to be more important than their own personal needs, most problems will be resolved. Both parties, man and wife have
to learn to submit to one another and cooperate with one another and love one another and give themselves for one another
as Jesus Christ did for and gave himself for the church.
And one of the big problems in the Church of God today has been that men have followed the example of erring
ministers. That dominating personalities in the ministry have affected by their example and their instruction the attitudes
and behavior of husbands. Which in turn have affected the attitudes of and behavior of wives in relationship to how they teach
their children.
Husbands abuse wives. Wives abuse
children. Husbands abuse children. It is endless cycle because children grow up knowing nothing else. And so they treat their
wives and their children the same way that they were treated.
Friends it is up to us to put a stop to this, to end this vicious cycle. It is up to us to repent before God,
to go on our knees before him. Ask him to fill us with his spirit of love, of faith, of patience, of courage to do what's
right and the wisdom to know what is right. It is up to us to study his word and to break this vicious cycle. And learn to
be loving, to be affectionate, to be forgiving, to be for caring.
How many marriages break down because somebody holds a grudge? They just can't forgive some perceived slight.
We have to learn to forgive each other as Christ forgives us. For only as we forgive others will we be forgiven.
In verse 28, So, ought men to love their wives as their own
bodies. For he that loves his wife loves himself. No man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even
as the Lord nourishes and cherishes the church: For we are members of his body, that is the church, and of his flesh, that
is the body of Christ, the church and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined
unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. They shall consider as one entity, one family.
This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. The church is
the bride of Christ. When they are fully united at the resurrection, the church being changed to spirit and uniting fully
with Christ. They shall be one. One in thought; one in attitude; one in approach; one in agreement on all things. And one
in respect for, and love for each other; and one in love for the Father.
Verse 33, Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as he
loves himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. Consider the vows you made in your wedding day were made to
God and before God. They were promises to God that you would behave in a certain way. And when you break those vows, you are
breaking promises made to Almighty God.
It
is not where you, situation where you slipped in relationship to your spouse. It is a situation where you have disobeyed by
breaking your vows to God. And God will not hold you guiltless. And if you sin by abusing the wife that you swore to love
and cherish and protect and provide for. If you abuse her, you are breaking your vows, you are sinning.
And you wives, if you abuse your husbands by refusing to love them, refusing to care
for them, refusing to submit to them, you are also sinning against God because your vow was made before and to God.
Now, on chapter 6 of Ephesians, children are told to
obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. The phrase "in the Lord" means that we are to keep the commandments
of God first and obey your parents as they obey God.
Now, I know that a little child of two or five or ten can't make such a decision. But you are always the children of
your parents, even when you're older. And should obey God first but you should always respect your parents no matter how
long you live.
Honor your father and your mother,
which is the first commandment with promise. The promise being that it may be well with you and that you may live long on
the earth. However in verse 4, Provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the
Lord.
Fathers, it's very easy to vent your own
frustrations on your children to, come home and after hard day and some little thing that the child does just sets you off
because you're tense and frustrated. Don't ever let that happen.
If you're tense and frustrated, take a jog, take a
walk, get down on your knees and pour out your heart to God. Never ever have a knee jerk reaction to the actions of your children.
Always consider that you are once a child. And the children don't know everything and they are not mature. Give them a
little leeway. Give them a little slack. Let them be children.
Don't require too much of them. What you do
require, definitely insist upon it. But don't make a million rules. Three or four will probably do.
Most problems with children occur because of a lack of communication and that comes
from a lack of trust. Trust developed in infancy, with babies, with bonding. Spend time with your babies. Comfort them. Play
with them. Be affectionate with them. Hold them. Spend time with them. Breastfeeding is certainly to your advantage. Do everything
you can to spend time with. Teach, hold, guide, and play with the children as young as possible from the time that they are
born.
When you establish
that relationship, that bonding at the very beginning and let the child know that there is nothing they cannot ask you, nothing
that you will not answer. Always have good communication from babyhood. And it will last you for a lifetime.
If you ignore the child, if you ignore a baby, if you let it lay there and cry and cry itself to sleep. If you
stick a bottle in its mouth and don't hold it and don't play with it, you are not establishing that bonding. You are
not establishing that foundation of trust. You are not establishing that relationship. Later on, they will not trust you.
They will not spend time with you because you haven't spent time with them when they were young.
It is habits that are developed at a very early age that are important. And you must
[unintelligible] of the habit of spending time with your child, of communicating with your child, of loving and being affectionate
with your child and of trust between the child and yourself. That has to start at birth.
You cannot just ignore the child and, oh he's cute and let him be left alone for
most of the time. And then expect suddenly to have instant communications and instant rapport when they are teens. It just
will not happen. To have a relationship at teens or 20's or 30's, you must begin to build that relationship from the
moment of birth.
From the birth of your children
and from the moment you meet with your wives, always be patient, be longsuffering, be loving, be slow to anger, be quick to
forgive, be slow to discipline. Remember how Christ treats you and how he treats the church, his wife. Treat your wives and
children in the same way and you will be establishing a good rapport with your children at an early age.
1 Corinthians 13 explain to us what love is all about. God is love. If we are to be
like God, we should be love as well. 1 Corinthians 13:4, Charity suffers long, and is kind. Charity, a loving person is willing
to put up with a lot, to be longsuffering. Charity does not envy. Charity does not flaunt itself and is not puffed up. A loving
person is not self-centered. They are outgoing.
Verse 5, charity does not behave itself unseemly. Does not seek its own advantage. Is not easily provoked. Thinks no evil
of others. A charitable or loving person, does not always think the worst of everyone else. When someone comes and says something,
they don't think, "Well what's in it for you? What are you trying to get here?" No, a charitable, loving
person always tries to think the best of others.
Verse 6, Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Verse 7, a charitable person, a loving person bears all things,
believes all things, hopes for good all things, endures all things. Charity never fails.
The point is that a loving person endures much and is willing to endure much because
of that love. We know that others are not perfect. But in spite of their imperfection, we still love them. Remember John 3:16,
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son. And he did so while we were yet sinners. While we were yet
his enemies. He gave his son for us and his son came and gave himself for us.
That is the love of God. We have to have that kind of love in us. We have to be quick to forgive, slow to anger,
slow to discipline. We must communicate to, cooperate, work together. That is what the Kingdom of God is all about. That is
what the church is about. That is what is marriage is about and that's what child rearing is about.
Yes there are times to discipline children. But if we establish that communication and
that relationship early at birth and throughout childhood, the times for discipline will be extremely few. And will get fewer
and fewer as the years go by and we all grow. Parents and children grow up together. Learning and developing in wisdom.
In conclusion we can say that if a ministry has gone
far from God. By exalting men above God and by leaning to their own understanding instead on the word of God. And that husbands
have gotten far from God and have become dominators and abusers of wives and children. And wives have picked up on that and
our children in the faith have been abused.
And this is why in the Church of God, so very many of our children have turned their backs on the faith. And it is why so
very many children have been embittered because they have been so deeply hurt and have suffered so much by those that they
love. And the tragic part of it is that the parents love their children deeply and have thought that they were doing the right
thing and thought they were doing God a service to be over demanding and over disciplining.
And they forgot that God is love. God's way is about forgiveness. It is about compassion.
And if compassion and forgiveness and communication start at the birth of the child and progress to the child's life,
the communication will be there. The relationship will be there. The trust will be there, throughout the rest of your lives
and lives of your children.
That is what God's
way is all about. It is about family. God is our Father. He has a relationship with us and we should have that kind of relationship
with our own children. A relationship of love. God's way, the way of the kingdom, the way of the ministry,
the authority and power of ministry and of husbands and fathers and parents is not about some kind of pyramidal authoritarian
government. God's government and God's way is all about family. It is about love, for God is love.
