TLP S00-E13: Parenting Blood to Water | blood is never thicker than spiritual water

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It's true, we have a very important responsibility to family, and the institution of the family was the first one created before the fall.

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But as with everything else in life, sin destroys and Christ unites. Welcome to Truth.

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Love. Parents. Where we use God's Word to become intentional, premeditated parents.

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Here's your host, A .M. Brewster. Welcome, friends. I hope you are having a fantastic day.

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I know I am, and I'm glad you're joining us today. If you'd like a chance to get to know me and Evermind Ministries better,

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I'd encourage you to go over to evermindministries .com. You can also check us out on social media, including

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Twitter and Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, you know, all that fun stuff. I'm really excited. As I've been mentioning the past couple of weeks,

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I'm looking forward to having Dr. Heath Lambert on the show to discuss with us a truly essential idea of this concept of what part does counseling play within parenting?

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Can parents counsel? Should they counsel? What is counsel? And I really hope that you will continue to listen and stay tuned for that episode because I'm very excited about it.

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Today, though, we're going to be talking about this old question, this old philosophy, is blood really thicker than water?

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If it is, what does that mean? What does that mean for us today? Is there a difference at all? What should our goal be when it comes to the bond that we have with our kids?

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So there are a lot of really important questions today. Let's jump right in. First, a little bit about me and my family.

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I have extended family members who hold the belief that there's no one more important than family.

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They are willing to sacrifice as many hours as it takes and suffer deleterious economic consequences all for family.

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They're even willing to compromise God's truth to keep quote -unquote peace in the family.

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But unfortunately, I'm going to say that this view of family is anti -biblical. Now, please understand,

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I believe the Bible is very clear that family is extremely important. First of all, in Genesis 2 .24,

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we see that it was the very first institution created by God, the very first human relationship. In the same passage, we see it's clear that priority must be given to the spouse.

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And all throughout the Bible, significant emphasis is also placed on the weighty responsibilities parents have to rear their children in the nurture and admonition of the

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Lord. Understand that I'm not trying to say that family is unimportant. As I've shared with you before, my wife and I have made life -altering decisions motivated solely by family needs.

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But the highly revered cultural concept that family is the necessary first everything is actually frequently downplayed by Christ himself.

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In Luke 2 .48 -49, we read this. His mother said to him, son, why have you treated us this way?

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Behold, your father and I have been anxiously looking for you. And he, referring to the boy Jesus, said, why is it that you've been looking for me?

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Did you not know that I had to be in my father's house? In John 17 .20 -21,

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Jesus prays, I do not ask on behalf of these alone, referring to his disciples, but for those also who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, even as you, father, are in me and I in you, that they may also be in us so that the world may believe that you sent me.

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He also says in Luke 14 .26, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

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Lastly, Christ made some stunning comments in Matthew 12 .47 -50. We're told that someone said to Jesus, behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to you.

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But Jesus answered the one who was telling him and said, who is my mother and who are my brothers? And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, behold, my mother and my brothers.

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For whoever does the will of my father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.

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It's true, we have very important responsibilities to family. And again, I want to remind you, the institution of the family was the first one created before the fall.

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But as with everything else in life, sin destroys and Christ unites. Just because someone is blood doesn't necessarily mean they take preeminence over water, especially when the water that unites us is the living water.

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We're going to take a look at these verses again. I know I went through them pretty quickly, but I want us to break it down and see some important things as we go through.

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We're going to see three main things. First we're going to see how Christ gave priority to the will of his spiritual father, even over his physical father.

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Second, we're going to see that the relationship between believers is described with an intimacy that really rivals marriage.

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And lastly, in the last two passages, we're going to see how the physical relationships are almost non -existent when they're compared to spiritual relationships.

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All right, so first of all, again, I love my family. But there's a bond that ties me closer than shared

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DNA. The kinship and oneness I experience with my brothers and sisters in Christ is far weightier than just mere genetics.

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For this reason, I may have many closer relationships with my brothers and sisters in Christ through his blood than I do with some of my family members who just reject his truth.

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And see, this is the key. Secondly, I would argue it's very biblical to defer to family when there's a spiritual command to do so.

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For example, 1 Timothy 5 .8. Also very biblical to defer to family when the physical family is also the spiritual family.

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I mean, think about that. When your kids are saved, in those cases you have a very special group of people representing the church within the biological family.

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I mean, that is an awesome group, a very special group of people. But we have to keep in mind that such decisions should never be made in non -Christ -honoring ways.

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If my sister, who is also born again, chooses to sinfully divorce her husband, I cannot simply just quote -unquote support her because she's my blood and water.

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Okay, so lastly, here are some ruling principles, and we're going to look to the scriptures to get these fleshed out. First of all, number one, everything

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I say and do must glorify God by aligning with his revealed truth. The boy

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Jesus said, I must be about my father's business. This was a mantra he repeated over and over and over again throughout his life.

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My whole purpose on this planet is to glorify God by aligning myself to his revealed truth.

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This takes precedent over family issues. If it comes to siding with God or siding with my family members who are siding against God, I must side with God.

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Jesus himself did that. Number two, I should have a relationship with my brothers and sisters in Christ that is uniquely more intimate than anyone else.

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In his high priestly prayer, talking to God the Father, Jesus prays that they may be one.

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Now, in this prayer, he's praying for us, the people who in the future would accept him, follow him, due to the testimony of his disciples.

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He's praying that they may be one, even as we are one, the unity between Christ and his

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Father. And this is very similar to the type of relationship that a husband and wife are supposed to have. This one flesh idea is now being taken and applied to the unity between brothers and sisters in Christ.

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This is significant. This is uniquely more intimate than the relationship I'm supposed to have even with my own children.

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And the third observation is this. One of my highest goals, and yours too, should be to help your physical family become your spiritual family as well.

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Jesus said of the people standing around him, Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.

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Our Lord obviously loved his mother and loved his siblings, but in that moment, he showed us that the people who truly were his brothers and sisters were the ones who did the will of his

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Father. Jesus also said later, if you love me, keep my commandments.

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So understanding this idea can revolutionize how we relate to our kids, and in particular, it can obviously revolutionize the way that we relate to everybody.

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My first priority, and I need to understand this as a parent, is to the Lord's truth. My second priority then is helping my family to submit to that truth as well.

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And because truth is always more important than family, I'll never be tempted to overlook the destructive choices in my kids because of the cultural philosophy that just says, well,

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I always side with family. As always, if you would like some help in fleshing this out and applying it to your particular family,

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I would encourage you to send us an email at counselor at evermindministries .com.

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You can also give us a call at Victory Academy for Boys, where we love helping families to grow in God's truth, 715 -759 -5976.

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And please check us out on social media. You can search Evermind Ministries on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

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And also, again, while you're at Twitter, please stop by and say hi at AMBrewster. I'm so happy you joined us today, and I hope that this idea of blood and water will help you become a better, more intentional, premeditated,

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God -glorifying parent in your house. Truth. Love. Parent. Is part of the

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Evermind Ministries family and is dedicated to helping you become an intentional, premeditated parent.

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Join us next time as we search God's Word for the truth your family needs today.