Sermon Series | The Family

1. Introduction. In our first week of Pastor Lane’s series “The Family,” we study five distinctive characteristics of a Christian family: designed by God, focused in Jesus, centered on the gospel, consumed with mission, and entrusted to reproduce. (February 1, 2009)
2. Biblical Manhood. This week in Pastor Lane’s “The Family” series, we study biblical manhood and what it means to be a man in light of the gospel. We look at two problems in today’s masculinity, three reference points for righting masculinity, and four practices of gospel-centered manhood. (February 8, 2009)
3. Biblical Womanhood. After spending one week examining biblical manhood, it’s time to look at biblical womanhood. In this sermon, Pastor Lane examines two feminist extremes, three reference points for biblical womanhood, and four practices of a biblical woman. (February 15, 2009)
4. Marriage Covenant. Four weeks into our family sermon series, we look at the marriage covenant. Because marriage was implemented before the fall, we know it was part of God’s perfect design. We’ll study three principle components of a biblical marriage covenant: suitable helpmate, becoming one, and naked without shame. (February 22, 2009)
5. Biblical Sex, Part I. After discussing the marriage covenant, it’s only natural to take a look at sex within the marriage covenant. In this sermon, we see that sex is God’s design, a gift from him. We also study the physical, emotional, and spiritual ramifications of sex within the biblical marriage. (March 1, 2009)
6. Biblical Sex, Part II. Too often the church engages in silence over biblical teaching regarding sex, but we need to build a strong community whereby those tough conversations can happen. This week we discuss giving ourselves to our spouses and fulfilling their needs over our own. (March 8, 2009)
7. Building Oneness. In our study of the marriage covenant, we look at how Christians should live a biblical marriage in their culture. In Ephesians 5, we see that headship of the husband and submission of the wife are God’s plan for marriage. (March 15, 2009)
8. Biblical Child-rearing, Part I. This week, we move from marriage to children in our study of the Christian family. As parents, our first goal is to raise godly children. Our second is to impress a love of God on our children’s hearts. (March 22, 2009)
9. Biblical Child-rearing, Part II. As we conclude our series on the family, we study the last two priorities of Christian parents: to orient their children’s lives to honor authority and to discipline for growth in godliness. Lastly, Pastor Lane addresses parenting questions raised by other LifePointers. (March 29, 2009)

Download all nine sermons (222 MB).

A Man’s War for Sexual Purity, Part III

Sexual purity demands that a man engage his heart, mind, and body in the battle. In part one, we looked at the heart and part two, the mind. In this article we will more fully consider the area of the body or flesh. There is no doubt that men are wired with an acute sensitivity to this realm. What we see and touch, or are touched by, triggers a rush that is comparable to a locomotive at top speed. If a man only fights his war on this battlefield, he will either experience great shame and condemnation from defeat or he will be frustrated by the relentless nature of temptation when legalisms he imposes upon himself do not fully relieve or satisfy the temptation. The heart and the mind are essential battles that must be engaged prior to and along with the battle in the body. While none of these battles are completely separate from one another, the man will never experience victory in the battle for the body if a priority is not given to the heart and the mind.

Three specific weapons are to be used in the body to fight for sexual purity. First Corinthians 9:27 teaches that there is a purpose for exercising discipline in the body, to accomplish a greater goal, live for a higher purpose, and not be disqualified. Men, we must exercise discipline in our lives in order to live for the higher purpose of God’s glory. The glory of God is the supreme priority of our lives. As Christian men we live on mission for God, to share the gospel, and make disciples. We should allow nothing to master our lives but to live for the full reward of God’s glory. Disciplines are the practical expression in the body of what consumes our heart and mind. They align our actions in the flesh with our knowledge of God’s truth and motivations of his glory. We willingly give up immediate pleasure for God’s eternal glory.

When we indulge in practices that feed our urges and temptations, we only weaken the motivations of our heart for God and believe the lies of the evil one instead of God’s truth. Love for God and knowledge of God is to be fully expressed in the body by the way we live every day. Build godly disciplines into your life to feed and guard your heart, mind, and body. Understand where and when temptations most attack you and flee from the things that create them as much as you can. Stand courageously against temptations, trusting God’s faithful provision for your purity.

A second essential weapon for sexual purity is not just to oppose attacks, but to practice a healthy sexual relationship in marriage. Your wife is your greatest guardian for purity in the body. Entrust yourself to her. Communicate to her your needs and temptations, so she can pray and provide for you in order to guard you. Consume your heart, mind, and body with her, so there will be no desire or room for another woman or image. Work to build a strong marriage relationship in every way, so she can be the one woman that makes you a pure man. A strong marital relationship is critical in winning the war for sexual purity. Many men believe the lie that sexual temptation will disappear when they get married, only to realize the battle will intensify if the marriage relationship is not strategically utilized to engage the battle. Your wife should become your standard of beauty in which you fully delight (Pro. 5:18-19). She should be your constant meditation of gratitude unto God in the midst of temptation. She alone must be your guard as you fully entrust yourself sexually to her. May she consume your every sense so that when temptation comes it only reminds you of her all-consuming beauty.

A single man that struggles with sexual temptation and sin must engage the battle without this immediate guard in the body. If passion and desires consume him, he should entrust himself to wise counsel and do the hard work of pursuing, winning, and marrying a woman. Learning to live in purity is not an unreal goal. It is a vision for godliness that every man must discipline himself and train for.

Community among godly men for encouragement and accountability serves as another great weapon in the battle. Men, married and single, should encourage one another in the war for purity. Bravery, strength, and courage multiplies and spreads among men who are focused and surrendered to a common mission. Men who live with pretense around other men only serve to make cowards out of other men. Men, fight the temptation to hide in your struggle. This will only weaken you in battle. When your battle causes you to cower in this way, it is no solace to have other men cower with you. Invite them into the battle by speaking honestly and openly, wisely and authentically, truthfully and humbly.

May God bless us and use us as we trust Jesus’ redeeming work within us.

Something’s Got To Give

by Sarah Austin

I never thought I’d be the girl who slacked on her quiet times, but ever since I married Chris and started grad school, I’ve struggled with consistency in that area. In the last month or so, the Lord’s been convicting me, prodding me to get back in the saddle. For a few weeks, I tried reading my Bible before I went to sleep, which proved problematic because by the time I crawl into bed at 11 o’clock, I’m exhausted, and the last thing I want to do is read.

This week, I made a pact with myself and my community group that I would get up every morning at 5 to pray and study my Bible. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday mornings were awesome, and the time I spent with the Lord was wonderful. Today, however, was a different story. Five o’clock rolled around, and I could not drag myself out of bed. Here’s why:

• I can’t go to bed much earlier than 11 o’clock any given night because Chris and I spend time together in the evenings.
• I’m training for a half marathon (about five hours a week)and will be training for a full marathon this winter (about ten hours a week). I run in the mornings before work, so I have to be up by 6 o’clock.
• Endurance sports require sleep. That’s when the body recovers and repairs itself. I’ve studied myself, and I function best with 8–9 hours of sleep, especially when my weekly mileage increases.
• I also work eight hours a day and do the normal house-wifely things.

Something has to give, people. Now I know that being a Christ-follower requires sacrifice and discipline, and I want desperately to have the discipline of daily time with the Lord, and I’m ready to sacrifice to do that, but I don’t know what to do with these other roles and responsibilities. I mean, it’s good to spend time with my husband. That’s pretty important. And it’s good to sleep and exercise. When I don’t sleep, I’m too tired to exercise. When I don’t exercise, I don’t manage stress well. When I’m not managing my stress, I overeat and gain weight, which is what happened to me in grad school and is why I got into running in the first place.

I know I’m not the only one who struggles with this. Everyone I know is busy. More than likely, I’m placing too much importance on the running and the sleep. It’s just that the running is the one thing I have that is in no way related to LifePoint, and the people who I run with need Jesus. That certainly doesn’t make the measuring of priorities any easier because we should all be both pouring our lives into people who don’t know Jesus and spending daily time with him in addition to our other roles and responsibilities.

I’m curious to know how you, other LifePointers, handle this struggle. If I figure anything out, I’ll let you know.