A Failure at Home

Do you consider yourself to be somewhat successful? God measures our success not only from the way we appear to others, but the way we live at home and follow His commandments in our houses. King Solomon, in all his wisdom, had some serious issues when it came to following God in his home. He was a great king, a leader among men, but failed when it came to leading his family.

Solomon is famous for having so many wives and concubines, according to 1 Kings 11:3 he had 700 wives of royal birth, and 300 concubines. 1 Kings 11:1-2 though shows us that Solomon was not following God's plan for the Israelites by choosing to marry the women that he did. In his later years, 1 Kings 11:4 says that his wives turned his heart after other gods. Solomon failed to keep the One True God the first priority in his home.

We see as we follow through 1 Kings 11:5-8 that he built "high places" for all his wives' gods. According to verse 5, he started following some of those gods himself. You can't force your family to become a Christian, and you can't force your family to get saved. There is no room for you in your home to pay homage to other gods, though. If you don't keep your resolve to follow God with your whole heart, and keep your resolve to lead your family in what's right, you will be led astray by those in your family who do not believe as you do.

1 Kings 11:9-13 reveals to us that since Solomon had turned from God and followed other gods, he would be punished, and would be unable to pass his kingdom to his son as kings normally do. This is why it is so important for us to follow 2 Corinthians 6:14, not getting ourselves tied to someone going the opposite direction. We don't get to choose all of our family, but those we do get to choose, we should carefully consider if they are following God, or if they're going to pull us off the path.

Responsibility of Provision

Are you your brother's keeper? What about the rest of your relatives? According to 1 Timothy 5:8 we are to provide, not just for our immediate family, but also for our relatives in need as well. According to this verse, to fail to provide for your family is to be worse than an unbeliever.

We as men have been given the responsibility to provide for our families. This provision is not limited to just food, a roof, and clothing, but extends to emotional and physical provision as well. Any time we start taking time away from the provisions of our family's emotional needs to try to "get ahead in life", we are betraying them for something far less important.

Sometimes, as men, it's easy for us to get caught up in providing for "a need" and leaving all the rest of the needs of our family behind. We choose to work 80 hours a week to provide for them monetarily, but we completely fail them in every other area because we're never there for them. We stop working to stay home and spend time with the family, lose our jobs and fail to provide for them monetarily. We get caught up in addictive behaviors that prevent us from providing for the needs of our family.

It's a very delicate balance that we as leaders must maintain, but with God's help it is possible. Often, if we'll take more time to pray with our families, all these things will more easily fall into place. If you find yourself having a hard time balancing things, talk about it. Talk to your family about their needs, and pray together about it. God will honor your prayer and faith in him, and your keeping of His commands.

Sinning in Secret

Do you do things in secret thinking that nobody knows? You hide the guilt and shame by actively participating in you church or religious organization, but deep down you just feel rotten? Thinking that nobody will find out is -at it's very best- a completely unfounded hope. Thinking you can hide it from God, your Creator, is simply ludicrous. But yet many men repeatedly conspire to hide their shortcoming or their "guilty pleasures" from the world, thinking that nobody will ever know.

Apparently, the selling of land and donating to the church was a common practice as a sort of "fund-raiser" in the early New Testament church (Acts 4:34-35). Ananias in Acts 5:1-2 conspired with his wife to sell a piece of land and say that they were giving all the money they made to the church, but keep some of the money for themselves. But, according to Acts 5:3-4, Peter immediately knew, and confronted Ananias about his lie. Then, upon hearing Peter's truthful accusation, Ananias fell down dead (Acts 5:5-6).

It's important to note that at this point in the story, already a good number of people have found out about the treachery. Most importantly, it's important to note that God already knew, and Ananias was severely punished. Acts 5:7-10 continues the story, with Sapphira (Ananias' wife) coming into the church three hours later, not yet knowing her husband was dead. She also lies, and she also falls down dead.

The story unfolds from the very beginning as a man, the spiritual leader of his home, incites his family to lie. From that one secret sin they thought that nobody would ever know, both he and his wife died. It's important to remember that there are consequences when we sin, even when they aren't immediately apparent. The last half of Numbers 32:23 is often repeated, but has been proven true time and again, "You may be sure that your sin will find you out."

It's Good for Everyone

With Christmas fast approaching, I feel it is appropriate to remind people exactly what it is that we are celebrating, and the sort of men that were used by God for this to all come to pass. There were 3 distinct groups of men represented in the birth of Jesus: the government, the family, and the church. Essentially, this represents every type of man possible by representing government, the family unit, and the church.

The Government
Matthew 2:1-2 introduces us to the "wise men" or "Magi". We don't know their whole story, but obviously there was a star that these men spotted in the sky that was different or new, and they recognized it as a sign that Jesus had been born, and came to worship Him. These men were obviously significant emissaries of their countries, bearing gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, all very expensive items. These Magi encountered another type of governmental leader, Herod, who according to Matthew 2:3-9 and Matthew 2:12-16 wanted to kill Jesus. Jesus' mere lowly presence on earth was such a threat and offense to Herod that he wanted Him dead the moment He was born. Christ represents a very real threat even now to worldly leadership. Those following Him have the power of Christ through prayer to tear down the authority of men who would oppress them. To these Magi though, Christ, this little newborn baby, was worthy of their allegiance and their worship.

The Family
In Luke 2:8-20 we find the magnificent appearance of angels to the working man, heralding the birth of Christ. These men get to be the first average Joe to hear the good news and come seek Him. These men wouldn't have necessarily been educated men, and a sign in the stars may well have passed their understanding, so for them, it was made much clearer. An angelic for broke throughout the heavens and sang praise to them! How awesome and amazing it must have been! These men didn't have expensive gifts to bring, but Luke 2:16 says they hurried or made haste to find Jesus. When they heard the news, they immediately rushed to find Jesus. Luke 2:20 shows them returning glorifying and praising God.

The Church
Luke 2:25-39 shows us Simeon and Anna, who immediately upon seeing Jesus began to worship and praise and speak about Him. We often hear of Simeon here, but unfortunately Anna is commonly overlooked. Anna is an important piece here, as in the church she is the confirmation of Simeon's praise. Matthew 18:16 and 2 Corinthians 13:1 show us that we should be able to confirm anything with the word of 2 or 3 people. It's an important part of Judaism, established in Deuteronomy 17:6 and in Deuteronomy 19:15, then repeated for the New Testament church also in 1 Timothy 5:19 and Hebrews 10:28. This event established the practice again for those who follow Christ.

Every Walk of Life
We've seen here that by the time Jesus was 8 days old, His presence had been acknowledged by people from every walk of life, and members of every group had given praise to Him. Not everyone who heard of Him worshiped Him, as is still the case today. His words and a life pleasing to God and patterned after the example Jesus left us is good for every man, every group, and every walk of life. Have we acknowledged His presence in our lives this season? Have we praised Him? Have we spread the news of His birth to everyone we've come across?