Day: July 20, 2007

BF&M – The Family

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

This will be the final article on the Articles of our Statement of Faith, called the “Baptist Faith and Message”.

This Article was added to the 1963 version of the BF&M in the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention.  It was a needed article.  It clarifies where we as Southern Baptists stand on family issues.  It does make clear that marriage is to be one man and one woman, thus ruling out homosexual conduct, and all sexual immorality.

The family is the foundational institution which God created from the beginning.  God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, and He created the woman from the rib of Adam, making her his wife, friend, confidant, and lover.  The family was instituted before the Church, it was instituted before human government; thus it is an integral part of humanity and godliness.

Here is our Statement of Faith on “The Family”:

XVIII. The Family

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God’s unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God’s pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Joshua 24:15; 1 Samuel 1:26-28; Psalms 51:5; 78:1-8; 127; 128; 139:13-16; Proverbs 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6,15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 9:9; Malachi 2:14-16; Matthew 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9; Mark 10:6-12; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3-5; Titus 2:3-5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7.

This Article shows the order for the Biblical/Christian family.  If there is to be order in any business, church, government, or organization; there will of necessity be leaders who will be designated to make decisions based on recommendations from others.  The same is true in families.  God has ordained that the man be the “Head of the wife”, as Christ is the “Head of the Church” (Ephesians 5:22-23), and I like the way this is worded in the BF&M statement, “A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ.”; especially “…to the servant leadership of her husband…”.  Men this is not a matter of having your way.  It is a matter of love, and “Servant leadership”.

This Article also deals with the children, and their discipline.  One of my thoughts on the things we give our children is, and I have often told others; “The best thing we can give our kids, is to let them see Dad loving and cherishing their Mother”.  A marriage should never be divided by the children.  The marriage came first, in the Biblical situation, and you will be living with your spouse for the rest of  your life.  That should not be so of your children.  They are to go out from your home and make a life for themselves.

In the healthy, godly home there will be no abusive situation.

Design: By GOD

/ Tim A. / Leave a comment

Genesis 6:1-22 conclusion.

“Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them. Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.” Genesis 6:14-22 (KJV).

Having chosen Noah by His grace, God gives him command to build an ark. This ‘ark’ is a tool of safety, deliverance, and salvation. It is also a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. The ark is a place of refuge from God’s judgment, because He has already received and paid the price for judgment for us.

The ark is to have rooms within which are probably designated for certain animals and items which will be on the ark. This could refer in type to John 14:1-3 indicating Jesus preparing “A place” for all who will believe and receive Him. There is room being prepared for all.

There is a wonderful picture of atonement deliberately given us by God in the word “Pitch”. “Pitch it within and without with pitch”. Pitch is used, which is a tar like substance to seal the wood to protect the ark from seepage and leaking. It is amazing that this word , in Hebrew, is the same word “Atonement” in Leviticus 17:11. The atonement is only beneficial for those who would enter and remain in the ark. Once inside, at God’s invitation there was/is no way out. The inhabitants were protected from the cataclysmic destruction which came upon man. Sealed within by the Atoning work of God, and His Spirit.

The dimensions of the ark are quite impressive. To believe a work of this magnitude took place should do away with any thoughts of the preflood ignorance of architectural designing; of course, God gave Noah the designs, but Noah built it.

If we measured this ark using the smallest measurment for the cubit which is around 18 inches, and usually measured from the elbow of a man to the tip of his fingers; the ark would be equal in length to one an one half football fields [450 feet], and its greatest measurement 600 feet long; Its breadth would be 75 feet or 100 feet wide; and its height would be 45 feet to 60 feet.

There are some unique features God patterns in the ark. There is a window apparently one cubit square and evidently placed in the ceiling/roof area. A window toward heaven for times of distress and fear that the man and his family might look to God for help and strength. There is a door placed in the side, that the provisions for the well being of the man, and that the man himself might go in and be safe from judgment. There were three stories inside the ark. Probably one story, and most likely the top floor, was for the man and his family; one story would be for the storage of food provisions; and the other for the animals. We could learn from this that the things of the world are less important than a relationship and fellowship with God. It is for man whom God provided a window to Heaven.

In verses 17 and 18 it is again declared what God is about to bring upon the earth. God makes covenant with Noah. Before the ark is ever completed Noah is assured of deliveance from the great flood. Before our salvation is completed by the reappearing of Jesus Christ we are assured of deliverance.

God always gives every evidence of providing for the needs of His people. Even the things which are for beauty. Animals of every kind provide not only a balance in the created order of things, but also a beauty, pleasure and even the sense of man’s dominion upon the earth. God could have just saved the man, but He knew the benefit of the animals to us. After all, He created it to be so.

Food was to be brought into the ark. This was for the provision of man and beast. There was no provision made for any on board to eat flesh. All would eat grains, fruits, vegetables, and provender. Only God could change the nature of all these animals, back to their prefall state, from which many had become flesh eaters since, but now they will eat “Straw”. There is only a supernatural explanation for this.

Only God in His grae could provide a man to continue the human race. Look at the man. He was brought out of the world of wickedness. he too was a sinner. He also was condemned, but God in His mercy and grace chooses one man to continue humanity. What did Noah have to offer God? Nothing! What did God do for Noah? Everything. Grace, mercy, faith, and because of faith is it said in verse 22, “According to all that God commanded him, so did he.” Would to God that could be said of me. Not for salvation, but because of salvation.