Feeding Your Family
Luke 11:11-13

We all know that most mothers are concerned that their family is fed properly. And if you look around, you can’t help but notice that Americans are fast becoming consumed with staying fit, and that’s a good thing. Part of keeping fit is paying attention to nutrition, paying close attention to what we put inside our bodies.

But what about our families? What are they really being fed? Their physical nutrition may be properly covered, but what about their spiritual, mental, moral, and emotional nutrition? How well are they fed in these areas?

In the context of prayer, Jesus gave an interesting contrast between earthly fathers and the Heavenly Father.

Luke 11:11-13
(11) If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
(12) Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
(13) If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

These questions Jesus asks are rhetorical. The people listening to him are expected to say, “No I wouldn’t give my child a snake instead of a fish” or “a scorpion instead of an egg”. And Jesus goes on to explain how our Heavenly Father also gives good things to His children. In this modern age I believe that, although we don’t do it on purpose, some of us are feeding our families snakes and scorpions. That is, that if this rhetorical question were asked today, some of us, if we were honest, would have to stop and think before we could answer Jesus. Today we need to consider if our families can trust that we are feeding them the right spiritual and moral diet.

This question can be viewed both positively and negatively. The negative: bad, unhealthy things. The contrast that Jesus made was with a father who would answer his child’s request for food by giving him things that would harm the child. How could you feed your family unhealthy things?

By Teaching Them Nothing. If you leave the teaching of your children completely up to others, they will be taught; however it may not be what you want them to learn. Society will teach them. Their friends will teach them. Media will teach them.

“Several years ago the Texas Dept. of Human Resources released a publication entitled “78 Things You Should Know About Texas Children.” It stated that children under 5 watch 23.5 hours TV a week. By age 18 a child will have spent over 15,000 hours watching TV compared to 14-15,000 hours in school. If the child goes to church during this same period of time for 2 hours per week he’ll spend about 1,300 hours in church.”

So we have 15,000 hours watching TV; 14-15,000 hours at school; and 1,300 hours of Christian instruction. If you’re not picking up where the church leaves off with your children on Sunday you are teaching them nothing and allowing their thoughts, emotions, and life-patterns to be established by the secular world.

We see in Deuteronomy 11:18-19, that as parents we are responsible for teaching our children the Word of God,

Deuteronomy 11:18-19
(18) Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
(19) And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

It is obvious that our responsibility to teach our children goes beyond making sure that they are in Sunday School class. It involves making the Word of God a part of our time together. But it also involves making sure they are an active member of the church. Why is it that we would be upset with our children if they skipped school but it doesn’t bother us if they skip out on church once in awhile? Why are we concerned that our children get good grades at school but don’t care if they can cite the deep truths of the Word of God? If it comes down to a decision between going to church or being involved in school activities, why do we allow school activities to come first? Which is more important?

The 2nd negative is that you can feed your family unhealthy things by: Teaching Negative Attitudes. There is a true saying that says, “attitudes are more caught than taught.” If negative attitudes toward society, church, government, and leaders are what children have heard predominantly, why shouldn’t they be negative toward those things. Sometimes we are very vocal about the absurdity of some of our political figures. But sometimes our children cannot discern between our dislike for a particular policy or political stand and they take it as hate for a person. Then we have to stop them from saying, “I hate so and so.” What they are picking up on is where we, as a parents, have gone overboard. Instead of explaining to them why we take a certain stand, we have communicated to them negative feelings towards an individual whom God loves. If you go home and talk about somebody at church in a negative way don’t think for a minute your children don’t pick up on that and imitate it.

We can also feed are family negative things by: Teaching No Standards for Life. Too many people have accepted the teaching that there are no moral absolutes, no right and wrong, no standards to which people should adhere. A student once said to his professor who was teaching that there are no absolutes. “Are you absolutely sure?” This approach to no societal standards can be illustrated by two phrases we frequently hear, “It doesn’t make any difference” and “the end justifies the means.” Let me tell you, It does make a difference. What a person does has consequences to that person, to others, to the family and to society. The end does not justify the means if the means used are immoral, illegal, or simply wrong.

All of these things mentioned, as a steady diet, can result in very unhealthy persons as well as sick families. Now let’s look at: The positive: good, nourishing, enriching things.

Right now we can turn from feeding our families an unhealthy spiritual diet to a healthy spiritual diet, from negative to positive, from bad to good.

You can feed your family a good, enriching diet by: Developing a Christian lifestyle. Just as there is a non-Christian life-style, so there is a Christian life-style that a family can develop. The Christian life-style can help to develop a successful Christian family.

“Leo Tolstoy, author of War and Peace, began one of his great novels, Anna Karenina by saying that all happy families resemble one another, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

“In 1973 the Reader’s Digest published an article entitled “What Makes a Successful Family?” based on a study by Reuben Hill, professor of sociology, University of Minnesota. He studied 104 3- generational family groupings: grandparents, parents, married children. His conclusion was that it was not just luck that allowed some families, about ¼ of those he studied, to manage well. These successful families have discovered that certain ways of handling their time, talents, and money help them gain the things in life they want most. Hill believed that such families are thoughtfully organized, with good lines of communication between husband and wife, and between parents and children, and are efficient in stewarding resources. These same principles can be applied to the Christian home because essentially what Mr. Hill discovered were principles taught by the Bible. You can also feed your family well by: Teaching Christian Values and Virtues. 2 Peter 1:3-8 lists some of those values and virtues we should be teaching our families.

“make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.” and then Peter says, “For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

If a family considers itself Christian, then Christian values must be a part of that families life. You can feed your family a spiritually nutritional diet by, Offering Your Family the Bread of Life. Jesus proclaimed, in John 6:35 “I am the bread of life.” Offer him to those you love most and are most concerned about. If you’re having trouble in your family and your family is not being fed a consistent diet of the Word of Life then you’ve already put your finger on the problem. Because if you are not teaching your children the Word of God on a regular basis your family is going to suffer from it.

We live in a day and age where the children are taking over the household and all we here about is the problems kids have to face today. You can disagree with me if you want, but I believe that the main problem children are facing today is not drugs or crime or peer-pressure, It is parents who don’t want to take the time out of their busy schedules to share Jesus Christ with them. I truly believe that if you and I do not have a regular devotional time with our children than we are not only depriving them of what God intends for their life, We are sinning in a very big way against God because we are neglecting our responsibility as Christian parents.

What are we feeding our families? Give them the best spiritually nutritious diet that is available. Give them Jesus Christ.

In closing I’d like to tell you a story about two different men and their descendants from Dr. A.E. Winship’s book Juke-Edwards, on the descendants of renowned pastor Jonathan Edwards and of another man, known by the fictitious name of “Max Jukes,” that I think will help us wrap this up.

“Max Jukes lived in New York. He did not believe in Christ or Christian training. He refused to take his children to church, even when they asked to go. He has had 1,260 descendants; 300 were sent to prison for an average term of 13 years. 190 were public prostitutes. 680 were admitted alcoholics. His family, thus far, has cost the state in excess of $420,000. They made no contribution to society.

Jonathan Edwards lived in the same state, at the same time as Jukes. He loved the Lord and saw that his children were in church every Sunday, as he served the Lord to the best of his ability. He has had 929 descendants; 430 became ministers. 86 became University professors. 13 became University presidents. 75 authored good books. 5 were elected to the U.S. Congress. 2 were elected to the U.S. Senate. 1 was a Vice President of his nation. His family never cost the state one cent but has contributed immeasurably to the life of plenty in this land today.”

We see two men with two different outlooks on life, and two different ways of raising their children.

My question for you today. “Which way will you decide to raise your children?”