St. Louis FamilyCamp » by Nathan Smith http://www.stlfamilycamp.com/home Reaching the World and Reforming the Church by Restoring the Family Wed, 07 Jul 2010 15:31:05 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 Hand-Me-Down Faith http://www.stlfamilycamp.com/home/2009/11/hand-me-down-faith/ http://www.stlfamilycamp.com/home/2009/11/hand-me-down-faith/#comments Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:08:24 +0000 nathans http://www.stlfamilycamp.com/home/?p=759 It seems like we often hear people today speaking about faith that has been handed down from their parents as if it was somehow a second class faith, or as if it couldn’t possibly be true faith at all. We hear statements like, “Your faith isn’t real until you ‘make it your own’”. While there may be an element of truth in them, statements like this can be less than encouraging for Christian parents. Why should we strive to teach our kids the ways of the Lord if those very efforts are going to cause them to doubt the legitimacy of their faith later in life? Does God really work through parents to pass faith on to their children?
When we look at the way Paul addresses Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter one, it can help to shed some light on this issue. It appears that Timothy (whose mother and grandmother were both believers) may have struggled with doubts regarding his faith. In the opening section of this letter, Paul sneaks in a few words of encouragement for him.
In 2 Timothy 1:3 Paul says, “I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors…” (ESV).
According to Strong’s concordance, the phrase ‘as did my ancestors’ would be more literally translated ‘from my parents’, or ‘out of my parents’, or even ‘by means of my parents’. Any of these meanings (and even the ESV rendering, though more vaguely), make it clear that Paul is attributing the fact that he now serves God to the fact that God worked through his parents, and he is speaking of his faith in God as an heritage that has been passed to him by his parents. It would seem that Paul is not speaking in covenantal terms, but it does seem that he is trying to encourage Timothy with this statement because he then makes the connection two verses later to Timothy’s faith, which was “first in your (Timothy’s) grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well“.
It’s easy to imagine Timothy, being raised in a Christian household (as many of us were, and as our children will be), questioning the validity of his own faith, and whether it was truly his own, or if he only believed because his mother and grandmother did.
Paul seems to be saying, “Yes, I know your faith was handed down to you. So was mine! Hand-me-down faith is great faith!”
While I don’t take this to mean that Timothy was a “child of the covenant” in the
paedobaptist sense, I do take it as a great encouragement to us, as mothers and fathers, that God does use parents as a means of grace in the lives of their children, and in that sense we do pass on the torch of the faith to our children. In fact, we get a beautiful picture of how God can (and does!) work through multi-generational faith when we see that first Lois (the grandmother), then Eunice, (the mother), and then Timothy (the son/grandson) all were given faith in Christ. Three generations of faithful Christians! That should give hope to all Christian parents and grandparents. God does choose to work His saving faith through families!
I’m reminded of a Psalm that I believe would be beneficial for all parents to memorize.
Psalm 78:3-4 says, “Things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their children (descendants), but tell to the coming generation, the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders that he has done.”
As we pray that God would grant faith in Christ to our children, let’s not fail to tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord at the cross, and His might in freeing us from the bondage of sin, and the wonders that He has done in giving us everlasting joy and peace in Christ Jesus!

]]> http://www.stlfamilycamp.com/home/2009/11/hand-me-down-faith/feed/ 0 Point Them to the Truth This Year http://www.stlfamilycamp.com/home/2008/12/point-them-to-the-truth-this-year/ http://www.stlfamilycamp.com/home/2008/12/point-them-to-the-truth-this-year/#comments Sun, 07 Dec 2008 19:41:48 +0000 nathans http://www.stlfamilycamp.com/home/?p=375 Point Them to the Truth this Year
Sunday, November 30 will mark the beginning of the 2008 Advent season. According to Wikipedia, Advent is “the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus, in other words, the period immediately before Christmas”.

In order to prepare myself to lead my family to exalt Christ during this season, I recently read a section from a book by Noel Piper called Treasuring God In Our Traditions. Noel is the wife of John Piper, and in this book she discusses the different traditions that they have established in their home, and explains how each tradition has helped them to encourage their children to treasure God above all else.

The chapter I read focused on the Piper’s celebration of the Advent season and Christmas, and what struck me the most is their absolute insistence on the centrality of Christ in all things, even their decorations and gift buying. For example, instead of a Christmas tree being the focal point of their decorations, they set up a nativity scene on a table, and make that the focal point of their family gatherings throughout the season. In fact, they don’t even use a traditional Christmas tree. Instead, they have a bare branch that they call a “Jesus tree”, from which they hang various items that symbolize Christ’s life on the earth. One thing that stands in stark contrast to the Christmas decorations in most American homes is the complete absence of Santa Claus. Mrs. Piper explains that they never wanted their children to have any question or confusion in their minds as to what Christmas was all about. She encourages us to see our home through the eyes of a child, or through the eyes of someone from a foreign country who is unfamiliar with our Christmas traditions. Would they see Jesus Christ as the center of our Christmas celebrations, or would they see a red-suited, overweight, bearded man with a bag full of toys?

Tresuring God in Our TraditionsAs Christian families, we must find a way to combat a market-driven culture that has saturated the Christmas season with traditions that appeal to our self exalting, self gratifying natures.  We will have traditions, the question is whether they will be saturated with Christ or saturated with something else. Our Christmas traditions should have no lesser goal than presenting the glory and mystery of God wrapped in flesh. As we begin this Advent season, I recommend that you read Treasuring God in Our Traditions. It is a great help and encouragement to begin Christ centered traditions in your family, not only for the Advent season, but throughout the year.

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