Last week we discussed one of the primary ways that the church confronts darkness, which is through illumination or education. This is a basic way that we are called to be “the light of the world.” Now that the church in America thinks there is little chance to have righteous laws passed on some basic moral issues, we are now confronted with a state that most of the church worldwide has always existed in—we must use the power of prophetic proclamation of the truth.

The prophetic proclamation of the truth is the special domain of the church and should have always been our main battleground for the hearts and minds of the people. Now that it is our only hope, it should again become what it truly is—our best hope. We will later discuss in more detail how this can be practically done, but this week we want to briefly address the second front that we must fight to accomplish the purpose we have been given to be a light in our times—becoming the truth.   

In relation to abortion, to be the light of the world we need to do more than just describe the horrors of the abortion procedures. We must also esteem life and especially children the way that they deserve to be esteemed. We need to care more for our children than for our professions or other ambitions. We need to esteem and honor motherhood the way that the Lord does, as one of the highest callings we can have. Basically, we need to esteem family the way that it deserves to be esteemed.

Tolstoy began one of his great novels, Anna Karenina, with a classic statement: “Every happy family is alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” There is an important truth to this statement. There are foundations for a happy family that are common to all happy families. They are clear, simple, and make for a much easier and happier life than the complications that lead to unhappy families.

As we battle the basic assaults on the family and life itself, we need to also esteem our families and raise up the strongest, most enduring, and happiest families in the world, which is what the Christian family is called to be. Few things on earth are more powerful in fighting abortion and the other immoral and anti-family forces than a secure, happy family. Each happy family is a great fortress for the truth in our times when family values are under the most desperate assault by the enemy.

I know a former Eastern European businessman who has made a number of statements that have been like great piercing arrows of truth. Through great enterprise, he was able to build a number of successful businesses in his country after the fall of communism. He then had to sell them and escape just before his country was then overrun with the Russian mafia, which has now become a major force in that part of the world. At a business breakfast, he said that under communism they would dream about what it would be like to be a part of the church in the West, which was a great hope to them. However, now that he has been in the West for a while, he thinks that the Russian mafia cares more for its people and has more unity than the church in the West. This is probably, very tragically true. To be what we are called to be and do what we are called to do, the church must become the family that it is called to be. Our unity and care for one another in the church should exceed that of any other family on the earth.

Presently, Christian families are suffering divorce at a higher rate than non-Christians. Just forty years ago divorce among Christians was rare and happened at a rate far less than the population in general. Two major causes for this are the following: 1) the multitude of idealistic books, teachings, and counselors on marriage that promulgated ideals that almost no one could live up to, which exacerbated the frustrations and problems that even the most healthy marriages go through, and 2) much of the leadership of the church was being filled by hirelings and professionals rather than those who had an authentic calling and commissioning from God.

 It should have come to our attention when many of the authors of some of the most popular books on Christian marriage seemed to be getting divorces. Their teachings seemed good, but they just did not work. This was not true of all, and neither were all of the books and teachings on marriage idealistic and impractical, but so many were that overall they had a devastating impact on Christian marriages. I was shown that this would happen and began speaking out against it over thirty years ago. This is one prophecy I wish I had been wrong about, but unfortunately I was not. However, we have the even greater prophecy of Scripture that we know will come to pass before the end of this age—the prophecy of the Lord Jesus Himself stating that Christians would be known by their love.

So how do we correct this problem of unrealistic idealism? Get real. Get honest, and tell the truth about marriage. I have been blessed to have a good marriage that at times I have thought may have been the best in the world. There have also been times when I wondered if we were going to make it. Even the best marriages in the world are hard at times. I do not have time to do marriage counseling and probably would be very bad at it anyway, but I do spend some time with couples that ask me to perform their marriage ceremony (I also require them to get counseling from those I trust). When I do spend some time with them, I begin my counsel with, “God has ordained this relationship in order to kill you both!”

That may sound harsh, but it is in fact true. To survive marriage, much less have a good one, you must be fundamentally devoted to dying to yourself. I do also tell them, as I believe, that marriage and family are the greatest gifts God gave to man on this earth. However, especially when they are “blinded by love,” I try to make it clear that marriage can be hard at times, which they need to be prepared for and even have a vision for, since this is when they can grow the most in true Christian character. 

Of course, it would require a book to address this subject, but for families to be the light of the world, they do not have to be perfect. Those that are promoted as such when everyone knows they are not will repel people more than draw them. We must be real, and we need to have a vision of being in a family in order to learn to love and grow in love, which means being stretched by circumstances where we do not feel much like it. Pastors who have been honest and open about their own struggles have encouraged people and actually strengthened their churches more than those who project themselves as being perfect and above the trials that normal people go through. Just as the clearest and brightest lights are the ones with transparent bulbs, we need to be transparent to be a true and pure light.

  Speaking of pastors, this leads to another basic issue we need to address if we are going to strengthen our families. The church is called to be a family first, not an organization. When we start becoming more of an organization than a family, we have turned from the path of life. Now, think about this situation: How would you feel if when you were a child your father came home one day and told you how much he loved you and enjoyed being your father, but he just had an offer from a bigger and better family that paid a lot more, and he felt that he needed to take this better opportunity? Is that not what pastors do when they leave a congregation they are supposed to be a shepherd over, not a hireling and not a professional, but a shepherd whose heart is bound to the people he has been entrusted to?

We probably have some of the greatest shepherds of all-time serving the church today. Most of these did not climb the ladder of moving from one opportunity to the next in churches, but took small churches and helped them grow into great ones. We also need to understand that apostles, prophets, and evangelists are often called to travel about. However, a shepherd is different. They may occasionally travel to speak at other churches and are devoted to missions, but there is no question where their main calling and heart is—the local church. Along with esteeming family and children, we need to esteem the calling of a true shepherd who is called to be the leader of a family, and that jumping from family to family in this capacity is spiritual adultery. We must especially be concerned about this in the church because what we release in heaven or in the spiritual realm gets released in the earth—what we are will trickle down.

Standing against abortion and preaching about the value of life and children will be empty if we do not value our own families and the family we are called to be as the church. This does not mean that we must be perfect to preach this message, but we do need to be honest, and where we are not perfect, admit it. This will make our whole message much more believable, not less. We also need to esteem and exhibit some of the great families that have been built on adoption, another major calling of the church.

So, the number one front is to be the light we are called to be through education, which includes getting the word out through teaching, preaching, writing, television, webcasting, and so on. The second front is not just talking about the value of life and children, but demonstrating it by raising up the strongest families on the earth, and for the church to become the family that it is called to be.

Next week we will discuss the third front which can at this time be a very powerful weapon; it is a weapon whose time has come.