The Dysfunction of the Black Family 3: We don't know when to be grown

Greeting Brothers and Sisters!
What a great day it is in the Lord. 

The actual title of this post is: We are children when it comes to Satan; but we are grown when it comes to God.

Our families are not producing quality fruit- agree or disagree?  This entire series hinges on that one statement.  We are not as a group of people producing the kind of fruit needed for the kingdom of God.  Of course, there are pockets of good fruit, but in a larger context, we resemble the fig tree in Matthew 21:19.  Thus, the purpose of this series is to examine our family culture and attitudes through the lens of the Bible. 

Okay, this post is going to make people mad.  I already know this.  Bring it on. 

Our families behave like children when it comes to things of Satan:  we go to the devil with our arms open, our mouths open, our ears open, our hearts open, our minds open and we want everything our enemy wants to give us.  We do this as adults, and we pass on these covert attitudes to our children, so they too will go to our enemy with open arms. 

This point boils down to what we value, and how we make the determination if something is valuable or not.  Our problem is that we put far too high a value on cars, clothes, jewelry, hair (c'mon now), food, and entertainment.  I can even add to the list cell phones.  Thus we unconsciously go after these things, or allow ourselves to be drawn away from the presence of God by these things.  So this is what our children value.

All the enemy has to do is dangle a shiny new phone in our face, or promise us a good time with our friends, or promise us prestige because we have this car; and we flock to him like children to the ice cream truck.  We are the proverbial putty in his hands for these foolish trinkets. 

Or the enemy can allow someone we know to have these things and cause us to be eaten from the inside out with covetousness. 

But when it comes to God we want to be grown.  When it comes to travelling on the narrow road to salvation, we all of a sudden want to follow our own path.  We don't go to God as children like He said.  We get grown up when it comes to the Lord.  Lord, I know I'm not supposed to do this, or do that; but I'm going to do it anyway, cause I'm grown!  Lord, I know I'm supposed to be follwing your example, but I'm not because I'm grown!  So Lord, I'm going to watch what I want to watch, listen to what I want to listen to, buy what I want to buy, go where I want to go, and who I want to go with, because I'm grown! 

And we pass this attitude on to our children as well. 

Is there any wonder why our families fail.  Is there any wonder why our young men go to jail.  We have it backwards.  We are to go to God as little children.  We should get grown with the enemy and tell him what we are and are not going to do. 

Wait, is that an Ice Cream truck I hear..... 

Dysfunction of the Black Family: A Biblical Perspective 2- No Nathans

Today, I attended a home going service for a spiritual father of mine.  He was the Paul to my Timothy, and I will miss him greatly.  If it were not for his counsel and constant encouragement my sons would not have a father in the home, and I would not have a church family, nor a home family.  I can never repay him, and I never got a chance to thank him for what he did.  Praise God that I will have an opportunity on the other side to say all of the things I did not say on this side.

Now, Brothers and Sisters, lets speak about us.  Our families are in disarray, and I believe it is because we have abandoned biblical principals and allowed Ceasar to raise our children and inform how we practice our family lives.  Today's installment is about Nathan.

Who is Nathan, you ask?  Nathan was the prophet who went to King David about his sin.  David was King and he committed adultery, fathered a child out of wedlock, and had the woman's husband killed to cover up his sin.  There had to be people in the kingdom who knew what David did.  He could not have done all of these things without others knowing his crime.  Yet no one, save Nathan, uttered a word to David about his terrible sin.

Which, brings me to my point.  Black families tend to ignore one another's glaring, obvious sinfulness.  We think we are turning the other cheek, but in reality we are being selfish and unloving.  May I submit to you that we are in a sad state because there are too few Nathan's in our homes and in our churches. 

 If our brother goes astray and is unwilling or unable to heed the conviction of the Holy Spirit, then he continues to travel down the wide path of destruction, and we are too selfish to speak a word to Him.  We would prefer to stay comfortable and let our brother go to hell.  

Instead of reproducing Christ-like individuals we are reproducing the sinful culture that we live in because we are afraid to be Nathan's to our loved ones.  For the record, brothers and sisters, if our family is in trouble, here is what the Bible says we need to do:

Matthew 18:

¹⁵ Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

¹⁶ But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

¹⁷ And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Brothers and sisters, none of us are perfect.  We have all sinned and there are always people who know about our sin.  But how many times has someone confronted you about you sin in love, like the passage above says.  How many times has someone sought to get you delivered from your own sin?  

We are hateful toward our friends and our family when we do not act as Nathan.  Our silence conveys acceptance.  We do not stand in judgement when we go to our brothers and sisters in love.  We do not condemn our brother and sister.  We only remind them of who they are in the Lord and what the word of God says.  The rest is the work of the spirit.

Let's be more like Nathan.  Let's love one another enough to tell each other the truth.