This sermon will discuss how we grow as a family. The next sermon will discuss the church and our family.

The earlier sermons have talked about how the husband and wife must bear the same yoke. The Lord Jesus also tells us He’ll help us bear our yoke.

If God is not present with our family, it’ll be impossible for us to bear His yoke. A family is blessed because the Lord is in their midst to bear this yoke together. God is helping them to grow.

We will take a look at how God helped a family in the Bible to grow in their faith. We’re familiar with Abraham, the father of faith. God chose him, and he and his wife left the land of Ur. This couple grew in their faith as they journeyed. They gave birth to the promised son and were able to preserve their entire family in the grace of God. They’re an example of family that grew in faith together. In the process of their growth, they served together. Abraham and Sarah weren’t perfect initially. Isaac their son also had his own weaknesses. But what was good was that they were able to grow in their faith with the guidance of God. If God hadn’t entered this lives, it would’ve been impossible to grow. It’s also because they were willing to be guided by God after experiencing Him. They show how a family ought to obey the Lord, resulting in the family receiving great amounts of blessings. The nature/substance of faith expressed by this couple influenced the growth of the faith of the children in the family.

We often hear people say: you’re like your father/mother!

This is obvious/natural. Why? Because as little children, our parents are our role models. We first learn from our parents. In the process of learning, we learn the good, we learn the bad.

Although Abraham wasn’t perfect at the start, because of his obedience, that was his strength. Later on we see from the actions and conduct of Isaac that he too learnt obedience towards God. An obedient son must’ve had a father who was obedient.

Let’s take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of this family. Learn from the strengths. Guard against the weaknesses. The Bible says when Abraham was called out of Ur, he was already a wealthy man. But because of faith, he left.

Heb 11:8-9, 13 (read)
v13 “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, nor having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

What feeling do you get after reading this? These all died in faith. They didn’t receive the promise God wants to give them. Yet they received it figuratively, because they already received it by faith.

Today, none of us have obtained heaven. It’s for us to obtain later. But where can we see the growth of Abraham’s faith? At that time there were people in the land of Canaan already. “If this is the land God has promised me, why are there already people here?”

When Abraham first came to the land of Canaan, he built an altar which represented he worshipped the true God. The establishments of the altar is to make a proclamation that this was the promised land of God. He had not received the land, but when he arrived, because of his faith, he established the altar and made this proclamation.

In this process the author of Hebrews describes the life of Abraham as one living in tents. He confessed he was an alien/pilgrim on earth. It’s quite contrary from the conventional thinking of: this is my land, I should be staying here.

One of the important points in Abraham’s faith is that faith is not putting your hopes on earth. If so, then Abraham would’ve returned home because he didn’t receive what God had promised.

v15 They had the opportunity to return if they wanted to.
v16 But they didn’t because they desired a better, heavenly country.

While Abraham was called the father of faith, he too had weaknesses like us. When his wife told him to take Hagar as his wife, Abraham listened. When Hagar gave birth to a son Ishmael and consequently despised Sarah, making Sarah angry, Sarah told Abraham to chase her out.

God promises they would have a son, but their faith was insufficient. As a result, they didn’t wait for God’s time. Later on when God said Sarah would bear him a son, then he waited. When the promised son arrived, Abraham’s faith was made perfect when he offered his son up. But he still hasn’t received the promise yet.

Gen 23:9, 16
Abraham bought a cave called Machpelah. Why? Because Sarah had passed away and it was to be a burial place for her. v15 says that he had to pay 400 shekels of silver, no small amount.

Let’s consider this question: “God promised me Canaan. Where is it? Even when my wife passed away, I still need to use my own money to buy a piece.”

If we were Abraham, would we believe in the promised land God promised? Abraham did. He buried his wife in the cave he bought, and instructed his children that he was to be buried there too.

“These all died in faith”
From the time Abraham built the altar to the time he bought the cave, he believed in the promise of God.

Today as Christians today, what do we hope to receive; what do we deem as being blessed by God? Riches? Land? Or the promised God wants to give us in the future. This growth and realisation is important. It determines how we serve and our attitude towards serving God. It’ll influence what we’re willing to give up for God. It’ll influence how our children will grow. Do they see someone who practises our faith convincingly?

John 8:56
“Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
Has our faith grown to the point we are happy? Or has our faith been strangled by the cares and worries of this world?

Abraham had weaknesses and struggles. But he relied on God to grow, unto perfection. Because of this, he served God gladly.

In our faith, we’ll face many struggles and weaknesses. On one hand, we have to strengthen our family. On the other, we have to worry over the faith of our children. We have many problems that are unanswered. But we hold on to the belief that God will help us. There will be struggles and weaknesses. Have we relied on God to grow in this process? Continue to pursue growth and rely on God to get rid of our difficulties. The problems will still be there, but our faith is also there. So we’re able to continue on this journey and do what we ought to do.

Life, the journey of faith, is a long one. It won’t be plain sailing. But if we’re willing to go on, God is willing to be our guide.

As a family, pursue relying on God and growing together.

Because Abraham and his wife shared a common understanding, look how it impacted their children. Isaac like his father led his life like a pilgrim/stranger. When Abraham was told to sacrifice his only son, Abraham didn’t hesitate. Isaac didn’t know he would be sacrificed. He asked where the lamb was, Abraham said the Lord would provide. When Abraham bound Isaac and placed him on the altar, Isaac obeyed and submitted. The experience of being bound and placed on the altar had a good impact on his faith in the future. Perhaps the binding and being put on the altar might have caused him some physical harm (Gen 22:9-10).

The main point was Abraham’s faith. But let us consider the young lad. How would he have felt as a knife was coming towards him?

v12 Thank God an Angel of the Lord told Abraham to stop.
v13 The Lord provided a lamb.

Abraham’s faith was made perfect because he didn’t withhold his only son from God.

For Isaac, he understood his father’s intent for putting him on the altar. He also heard the words of the Angel. What would Isaac have thought? He would have understood God is a God who tests. He might have thought: would God test me next time too?

This incident would surely have caused Isaac’s faith to grow; to believe God would surely provide. It has deep implications/impact on his life later.

From the incident of Abraham offering Isaac up, God didn’t just guide Abraham. Also his wife and son. Our God is a God who guides the growth of the whole family. Our God will gone His abundant blessings on the whole family.

When we look at the progression of faith on the whole family, let us look at the faith of our whole family. Are our children’s faith growing together with us in the family? Of course we’re not talking about offering our children up on the altar. But listening to and obeying God is something our children must have. They may not be placed on the altar, where the altar represents our service towards God. Our children having no relationship with God might explain why some children who have grown up in church focus all their energy on the pursuit of worldly things, paying no attention to the spiritual.

They won’t think the spiritual is important because all they are asked by parents when they come home are, “How are your exam results? Have you done your homework?” If all the focus is on the world, will our children’s faith ever grow?

Do we ever talk about matters of faith? “What church work do you do? Have you prayed?”

Besides the children’s faith not growing, the relationship in the family grows sour because the life is not joined to God.

“It’s better to teach by example than words.” “Action is more important than words.”
Some parents insist their children to go to church but they themselves don’t go. When they observe how weak we are at home in our faith, unable to live out a life of faith, they’d think: My parents are like that.

No amount of words will convince them in the faith. They end up doing many things behind their parents’ backs.

This impact on children is far reaching. In all the negative examples of his faith (e.g. his lies), Isaac learnt too. Like father, like son. Of course Isaac wasn’t born yet but the emphasis is that our children learn the positives and negatives of us.

Bro Daniel said that before 2 years old, children don’t know how to speak. They learn through pictures. Whatever he’s absorbed earlier will come out when he’s older.

The person who leads the family is important.

A psychologist who has been counselling youths for 40 years says he needs to change the direction of his work. From the actual case studies he worked on, he doesn’t just need to show concern for these children but he also needs to teach his parents.

While we don’t want to depend so heavily on psychology and sociology, the Bible also says to teach the child while they are young.

The head of the family must set good examples. Then we can influenced our children positively.

Isaac would submit to many things. The examples Abraham left him had a far reaching impact in his faith and life. He saw he had two mothers who quarrelled. One of them was chased out of the house. He would’ve observed this in his growing up years.

He submitted later. When God told him not to go to Egypt, he didn’t. When his wells were taken, he exhibited the excellent quality of faith of giving in.

Lot lived together with Abraham but his faith didn’t grow together with him. Why? Because they moved their tent away. The faith of that family didn’t grow. The root of the problem was because they chose to go away from the word of God. Would people living in Sodom ever serve God? No.

Jesus specially cited the example of Lot’s wife as a warning. He also mentioned the time of Noah where everybody would be eating and drinking, marrying and given in marriage. They’re growing in all aspects, but it’s just worldly growth. They’re also serving, but serving their own desires. They’re not growing in their spiritual life.

Abraham looked towards his blessings. May God guide us that we may be willing to allow God to guide us in our growth. An easy sentence, but are we willing?

Are we good examples in our family? May God take away our temptations. It’s not easy to grow as a family.

The speaker’s wife is a 4th generation believer but many of her relatives no longer believe and have left.

May God help us.