Parents and Families!

For Friday, December 13, 2024:

Deuteronomy 5:16 NLT, God’s words: “Honor your father and mother, as the Lord your God commanded you. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

Oh my, it’s Friday the 13^th! Good thing Christians don’t believe in superstition and sorcery!

Interestingly, when little babies are born into a family, there is no doubt who will care for them – their parents! But when the tables are turned, when the parents grow old, who will care for them? The answer is not as clear as it used to be!

The Bible says that a man will leave his parents and take a wife, thereby creating a new family. In Jesus’ day, that might mean building a second house on the family farm, or at least within the same city. Nowadays the new family might reside in a different state or a different country, wherever work or life’s circumstances might take them. So it becomes honor and respect, and not so much ‘care.’ By the way, there are bad parents, and that changes the rules somewhat. We can still honor them as our parents, not speaking ill of them, but also steering clear of them. Sometimes going your separate ways is the best way to honor someone.

Personally, I have become a fan of extended families. Grandchildren are the best! I think that honoring parents makes a lot of sense when those parents honor their children and their children’s progeny. It’s kind of like loving your neighbor, except this is family!

This is the only commandment with a promise!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Family of God!

For Sunday, October 27, 2024:

2 John 4 NLT: “How happy I was to meet some of your children and find them living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded.”

I see a lot of grandparents bringing their grandchildren to church, and sometimes the grandparents are raising these kids themselves, which brings up the question, where are their parents? I call this the missing generation.

Far too many of them have fallen to Satan and his demons. Satan invented drug abuse, alcoholism and gangs – anything to divert one’s attention from God Almighty. Those victims of the devil’s mischief have traded a moment of pleasure for a lifetime of misery.

God’s commandments were designed to keep us safe. Those who have fallen can flip Satan’s script by calling on Jesus. Getting back on track is possible with Jesus, but it really won’t work without him.

I always enjoy seeing new babies in church. That’s how families start! So in our churches, we need to welcome the moms and dads and all the children. God created man and woman and the means to procreate, so this “family system” is part of God’s design. Infants can’t care for themselves yet; they need to be part of a family, and that includes a church family. Socialization should be taught by including everyone in the body of Christ.

After all, we’re all brothers and sisters; we’re all children of God!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Family!

For Friday, May 24, 2024:

Ephesians 6:3 NLT: “If you honor your father and mother, ‘things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.’”

This is the first commandment with a promise. According to God, honoring your father and mother is not only the right thing to do, but it reenforces the natural order of life, God’s plan. The saddest funerals are when a child has died and his parents are among the mourners. God’s natural order and simple logic should have us expecting children to outlive their parents!

Progeny are given the spirit of independence to leave home, select a mate and start a new family. But an important thing, according to this commandment, is to also not forget the old family. We can glean a great deal of wisdom from their experience of living a long life. I wish I had appreciated what good people my parents were when they were still alive.

I have become a fan of the extended family, several generations living under one roof. One of our daughters and her son have lived with us from time to time. Life seems better when they are here. If they have traveled away, I feel like something is missing!

Honoring your parents is a lot like loving your neighbors. We need to be kind and helpful. We need to be available to do the next right thing. Honoring parents can be a lot of work! Are you up for the task?

Norton Lawellin

Jesus In the City Fellowship

Happy Father's Day!

For Sunday, June 19, 2022:

Luke 2:49 NLT: “But why did you need to search?” Jesus asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

At this point, Jesus – both fully God and fully human – was a precocious youngster! Enamored with the goings-on at the Temple, he failed to join up with his family for their return trek to Nazareth. His parents assumed he was with relatives. But when Jesus couldn’t be located, his father and mother returned immediately, searching everywhere. Jesus was eventually spotted in the Temple, and the family was reunited!

This is Father’s Day in the US. We honor our fathers. Unfortunately nowadays, many people have both a birth father, and then a different father who raised them. Honor both if you can. And don’t forget single moms who are doing double-duty!

We should also honor our Father in heaven. Jesus taught his disciples to pray to, “Our Father in heaven.” We should be involved in our Father’s affairs, both our earthly father and our heavenly Father. When in doubt, do what Jesus did!

But don’t abandon your family! Instead, take them with you! Happy Father’s Day!

Pastor Norton Lawellin

Jesus in the City Fellowship, 3249 30th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55406

Ancestral Accolades

February 18, 2013 Monday Message:

We’ve been looking at the 10 Commandments. Ex. 20 The first four are about our relationship with God, and we wrapped up that section last week.

Jesus also taught us, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” Matt. 22:39 and the remaining six commandments deal with exactly that: Our relationships with others.

#5    "Honor your father and your mother..."

If I had understood this sooner, I could have done a better job with it. As a know-it-all young adult, I felt my parents were hopelessly old-fashioned and no fun at all. After all, I was young, hip, better looking, had more hair and less weight, and, frankly, I was cool. Or so I thought.

As I grew older and wiser myself, I discovered that my parents had been full of wisdom all along. But now my eyes were opened and I could see. I came to realize that those who once appeared fatally square were actually the ones on a solid path. I have been able to discern, not just in my parents, but also in all elders, much perennial wisdom. Gaining that knowledge had a lot to do with thinking less of myself, and caring more about others. It’s been a gradual learning process; progress, not perfection.

I don’t think I’m alone in this. Elders throughout our country are routinely discarded in favor of the tragically hip. Instead of valuing senior wisdom as a resource, and giving elders a place of honor, it seems we can’t be troubled by their presence.

The Bible says that even though walking with the Lord might make us unpopular in the short run, it will work out in the long run. We should all be intentional about this good, God honoring thing, lifting up our parents.

This is the only commandment that comes with a promise. God will grant you abundance and a long life in the land He is giving you.

Next week, #6: Killing vs. Murder!

Norton Lawellin

We’ll worship this Sunday, Feb. 24, 10:30am, Jesus in the City Fellowship (JICF), in the North end of the Oliver Ministry Building, 27^th Street & Bloomington Avenue, Minneapolis. Jesus explains the Parable of the Farmer Scattering Seed as we open up Luke Ch. 8.

NL