Loving Orphans

“Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;
Maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Rescue the weak and the needy;
Deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Psalm 82:3-4

For years we have had a strong and continuous focus on foster care and adoption at Redeemer Bible Church. I want to stoke that fire this week and keep our focus on this issue that is so close to the heart of Jesus.

We first must never lose sight of the need that exists in our very community. Nationwide there are 400,000 children in foster care every year in the US. This means 400,000 kids taken into the custody of the state because their parent(s) are jailed for criminal matters, drug addiction, abusive, criminal negligence, or because the children are abandoned. If you grew up in a loving Christian home and can’t imagine how this could be a reality, give thanks for the grace given to you to be born into your home but don’t be naïve to the real tragedy of sin in this world. There are children by the many thousands growing up in unthinkably hard circumstances across the country and right here in Spotsylvania. We know that the best part of life revolves around relationship and friendship. The essence of the orphaned condition is being alone. As a child having no clear provider, protector, nurturer, or place of belonging is devastating. In our non-Christian sexually supercharged culture there is no end in sight of family breakdown and an increased number of children born outside of Christian marriage. The need for foster parents and adoption is not going away.

The entire witness of Scripture is clear that God is passionate about His people living in the opposite way of the world. The spirit of the world has always been to oppress the poor and use them to enrich oneself. God is the father to the fatherless and protector of the widow (Psalm 68:5), and He demands that His people follow in His steps. Israel was often rebuked for neglecting and abusing the poor, and the church is charged with caring for the orphan and the widow (James 1:27). In the New Testament, adoption (an orphan being brought into the care, protection, and love of family without condition or payment from the orphan) is used as an analogy of our salvation (Romans 8, Galatians 4:5, Ephesians 1:5). In relationship to God, we are the orphan. We are the one outside of relationship, abandoned, beat down by the sinfulness of the world with nothing to offer God. It is by grace and love that Jesus reaches to us and brings us in, making us new, giving us a full place in His kingdom. Having now cared for a foster child for close to two years, I believe it’s impossible to fully appreciate this analogy of salvation without being personally involved with caring for an orphan.

As Christians, we cannot turn our eyes away from this need and from these dear children. It is not the role of the world to care for the orphan. It is the responsibility of Christians according to the will of God to care for orphaned children. There is both a singular and church community responsibility. Singularly – individual families must choose to take the life-changing step to bring a foster or orphaned child into their home. Families in Redeemer should seriously consider the need, pray about the need, and some must say yes to bringing orphaned children into their homes. As a church – we must consider our role in supporting these families with direct placements. It takes the entire community of the church to physically, relationally, emotionally, and spiritually support families that bring abused, traumatized, and abandoned children into their homes. This support can come in the form of meals, babysitting for an afternoon, intentional prayer, help with the resource closet, or intentional time spent with a struggling teen.

Whatever role you may play, it will be sacrificial to your current direction of life. Let me be clear, you cannot pursue the secular American dream of personal peace and affluence and also enter into the call of Christian discipleship which requires self-sacrifice (Matthew 16:24-26). You cannot live an easy self-centered life and also take on meaningful responsibility for an orphaned child. There will come a tipping point where you choose to indulge yourself or die to yourself. I urge you to regularly pray about how you should be involved in the care of orphans in our community this year. As you pray, the Lord will open a door, lead you, and bring you to the tipping point. There will come a time when you will be personally confronted with a need that will require you to sacrifice your plans to care for another person in Jesus’ name. I pray you will say “Yes!” There is joy in obeying Jesus. There is joy in serving others. It is truly more blessed to give than to receive. There is peace in going beyond yourself and living in dependence upon Jesus every day.

Maria and I reached this point about 18 months ago when friends in the church accepted a job transfer out of state. They could not take their foster child out of state, and they asked us if we would take over the care of a six-month-old child. In short, we had a 1,000 reasons to say no to this offer, but we also felt strongly that it was God’s will for all the reasons stated above. Now, 18 months later, by the grace of God and through the constant help of family and the church, our dear Myla has become an inseparable part of our family and a joy to us every day. Every day is still a struggle and never easy, but in dependence upon the grace of Jesus and the help of the church it is possible. This world seeks to fill the empty heart by getting more things, but the heart is truly filled through giving and serving – not in receiving and indulgence.

Related to all this, the account of a true and remarkable story is being told this week. It’s the true story of a small church in “Possum Trot.” There is a movie in the theaters called “Sound of the Hope: The Story of Possum Trot,” and an interview with the pastor of the church and his wife. The Jordan Peterson podcast interview is attached below. I strongly encourage you to see and listen to both. Pray about these things! Consider the will of the Lord for your life now. Get involved with the foster care and adoption ministry at Redeemer. (click here)

Let us demonstrate the love of Jesus by caring for the fatherless,
Pastor Vic

Samuel
“Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.”
1 Samuel 2:12

“Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.”
1 Samuel 3:19

In the Old Testament we learn much about godliness and ungodliness through character studies. We get short commentary on people’s lives. Some help us understand how we should live, others how we should not live. The first chapters of 1 Samuel contain a powerful contrast between the sons of Eli and Samuel. It’s a contrast we should all learn from!

During this period of the Old Testament judges, Eli is the head priest at Shiloh. He is assisted by his two sons: Hophni and Phinehas. Eli is not effective in leading the people toward authentic godliness and his sons are summarily described as “worthless!” In the early chapters of 1 Samuel, Eli is very old and his sons are overseeing the worship processes. Hophni and Phinehas openly disregard the sacrificial worship processes recorded by Moses and prescribed by the Lord. They use the authority of the Lord to enrich themselves and abuse the people that come to worship the Lord. They openly dishonor the Lord as blasphemers! They were sexually immoral men, shamelessly having relations with women serving in and around the area of worship. They were proud, evil, willfully sinful, and unrepentant when confronted by their father (1 Sam 2:25). It was the will of the Lord to put them to death, end the family line of Eli, and replace them with a godly man.

The impact of ungodly leadership is significant. 1 Samuel 4 is about Hophni and Phinehas leading the nation of Israel into battle with misguided pride, believing they could manipulate the power of the Lord to serve their ends. The enemies of Israel were encamped at Aphek and had defeated Israel once with a loss of 4,000 men. The elders consult Hophni and Phinehas, who decide to bring the Ark of the Covenant (the holy container where the Lord chose to display His presence during the Old Testament period of the Tabernacle and Temple) and attempt to use it as a weapon against their enemies. The manipulative action of these worthless priests ended in the slaughter of 30,000 Israel soldiers and a route of the nation before their enemies. It’s not only worth reading the rest of the story to see how the Lord defends His own glory, but also how Hophni and Phinehas are recorded forever as those who “did not know the Lord.”

In stark contrast to these men, stands young Samuel. Samuel is born as a direct answer to prayer from his godly mother, Hannah. Keeping her promise to the Lord, Hannah dedicates Samuel to serve the Lord at Shiloh from the time of his childhood. From the beginning, Samuel is a child with a tender heart toward the things of the Lord. 1 Samuel 3 records how the Lord called Samuel to Himself and a lifetime of faithful service. 1 Samuel 3:7 notes that when the Lord called to Samuel three times in the night, Samuel “did not yet know the Lord.” The main difference between Hophni and Phineas, and Samuel is that Samuel knew the Lord in a personal life-changing way, and Eli’s sons did not. Samuel responded to the call of the Lord. Samuel heard the word of the Lord and obeyed it. When the Lord spoke to Samuel, he obeyed and spoke all that was given to him (1 Samuel 3:19). The Lord blessed Samuel’s life and established him as the judge of Israel. In opposition to the sons of Eli, Samuel’s godliness blessed the people. The whole nation enjoyed peace and unity from the Lord for the entire long life of Samuel (1 Samuel 7:15-17).

It is astonishing to consider what a powerfully good or bad impact the godliness or ungodliness of one person can have on the people around them. The nation fell into death and destruction under the ungodliness of Hophni and Phinehas but rose to strength and peace under the godly faithfulness of Samuel. I believe we should first consider what this means to our own families and communities. What kind of a life do you live? How do people summarily describe you? Are you known for godliness, truth, and courage, or are you known for ungodliness, immorality, drunkenness, and pride? Your life will have an impact for good or evil. Your life will impact your immediate family for blessing or for weeping. Your life will impact subsequent generations for godliness or for worldliness. It may be that your life will impact much more than just close family relations. If you have been given a place of leadership in the community or church, your actions affect many more people than just those in your family circle. You are accountable before God for those you affect and the type of influence you have upon them.

I pray that you will know God in your life. Truly knowing God through the grace of Jesus Christ is the turning point of all life. If your life and influence upon others is a mess of ungodliness, the answer is not found in cleaning up your life, but in turning to the Lord in repentance. Hophni and Phinehas did not first need to “do better,” they needed to confess their sins and know God. Samuel was powerful for the Lord not because of all he did, but first because he listened to the voice of the Lord and obeyed.

May the Lord help us to hear His voice and know Him today,
Pastor Vic

Life and Death
Isaiah 38-39
Last Sunday, I spoke with you about issues of life and death from Isaiah 38. I urged you that Christians should have a passion to live in our culture of death. We live in a nation where the unborn are thoughtlessly killed by the many millions every year. Where suicide is at record high numbers in many demographics, and where physician assisted suicide is nearly upon us. As Christians we should desire to live, and in that to live unto the glory of Jesus! We should pray for a full and joyful life, asking God to watch over and protect us along the way. We do not know how this prayer will be answered, or with what hardships it will come. We know from the constant pattern of Scripture that struggle and hardship will always be a part of our lives. The Lord uses this struggle to keep us in dependence upon Himself. He uses the hardships of life to refine our character and increase our longing for heaven.

Isaiah 39 is an interesting passage. This chapter records what happens in the life of King Hezekiah after the Lord answers his prayer for healing and grants him 15 more years to live. What would you do with your life if from your deathbed you were granted 15 more years to live? Sadly, it’s the least impressive period of Hezekiah’s life. He does not go on to live passionately for the Lord, leading the people to revival and godliness. Instead, he slows down, is overly proud of his accomplishments, makes unwise decisions, and is self-indulgent. He ends up touring an emissary of Babylon all over the land and is rebuked by Isaiah for giving their enemies an open door because of his pride. He is told by Isaiah that Babylon will one day come in and destroy the land. The last recorded words of Hezekiah are shocking, “’The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.’ For he thought, ‘There will be peace and security in my days.'” (verse 8)

This is a shocking and callous statement. It means what it says, “As long as this ruin doesn’t come in my day, then it’s not my concern!” My initial reaction is to condemn Hezekiah for having no heart of care or mission toward the generation of his children. But this should cause each of us to examine our own hearts. How much real concern do you have for the next generations? Is your life lived in this same self-preserving selfish way? What are you really doing in a self-sacrificing, gospel oriented, disciple-making way to affect coming generations? Do you really care that coming generations grow in godliness and strength, or do you just want to live out your days in peace? These are serious questions where, if truthful, many American seniors would fall into the same camp as senior King Hezekiah.

I am deeply impressed and encouraged by many seniors at Redeemer who are intentionally living in a different way. Thankfully in our church there are many examples of seniors that DO care deeply about the next generation and are diligently and sacrificially working to make disciples of Jesus Christ in the next generation. They are not just relaxing and telling stories of their youth but are actively using the years of their lives to fulfill the great commission of Jesus to go into all the world and make disciples. This is the attitude we must have as the Lord grants us more years to live. We must care about the wellbeing of coming generations, leaving a legacy of godliness.

This can take many different forms, but it should begin in your own family. We should strive after the souls and godly character of our children and grandchildren. If you are a senior, please take action to be directly involved in the lives of your grandchildren for the sake of godliness. Don’t just smile and wish them well. Engage them and talk about things that matter. Pray for them and encourage them. Be actively involved in their lives. Then look to the lives of other young people. Perhaps volunteer to work in the children’s ministry, youth ministry, or with our young adults. See and know the struggles of youth today and come alongside them in what way you can to speak godly wisdom, encourage, and pray.

I urge our seniors to follow in the godly example of Joshua, who at age 110 ended his life with a powerful charge to the next generation to forsake evil and unbelief, and follow him as he followed after God!

“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:14-15
We all see the dark clouds coming upon us in culture. We know the future looks bleak, but there is always hope in Jesus Christ. As long as the Lord gives us breath may we live for him with intention and focus upon making disciples. This is the means by which revival comes!

May the Lord strengthen us all to live well,
Pastor Vic

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
Romans 12:21
It is necessary every June to push back against the moral decline of our world and restate the position on sexual ethics biblical Christians have held for thousands of years. God’s position on the morality of sex has not changed since creation. Human beings have perverted God’s plan and purposes in sexuality in every way imaginable, until our day where now perversion has reached new lows through modern medical technology.

The Bible teaches a single, simple, straightforward sexual morality: sexual acts are only pure and right between a single biological male and a single biological woman within the bond of marriage. Any other perversion of this original design is sinful, rebellion against the will of God, and will lead to the sad consequences of sin.

All morality is defined by God. God decides in His person what is right and what is wrong. God created human beings and in so doing created sexuality. He created the biology of it, the pleasure of it, the child-bearing outcome of it, and their bounds within a lifetime of committed marriage. Sex is a moral action. The Bible is abundantly clear on this (Genesis 2:24-25, 19:1-29, 34:1-31, Exodus 20:14, 2 Samuel 11-12, Matthew 5:27-32, John 8:11, Acts 15:20, 29, Romans 1:24-32, 1 Corinthians 6:12-7:16, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8, Revelation 21:7-8, and many more passages). Our culture is doing everything possible to move sexuality into a non-moral category arguing that sex is purely an expression of personal pleasure and taste. The argument is that people should be able to express their sexual desires in any way they choose without consequence is similar to a person eating any type of food they enjoy without consequences. But God has declared sex to be a moral issue of right and wrong, guilt and innocence; therefore, it will always be a moral matter.

In our hearts we know this is true. We know that the pursuit of unrestrained pleasure, especially unrestrained sexual pleasure, will destroy us. What God has created is best, and we cannot improve upon it. This is the nature of perversion. To pervert something is to twist it from its original form, both in substance and morality. To alter sexual expression changes its form of heterosexual marriage commitment and changes its moral character from blessing to inescapable consequences.

As the world runs headlong into perversion and self-destruction, let us overcome evil with good. As Christians let us hold high and passionately the goodness and peace of the sexuality of Christian marriage. I say peace because the sexuality of Christian marriage produces bonded stability in marriage. It produces children (biological or adopted) which make families. Families committed to the ways of Jesus over generations produce stability and peace. Stable and peaceful generations produce stable and peaceful societies. On the other hand, the rampant sexual perversion and unrestrained sexual expression of our day produce a hedonistic chaos that tears down everything just stated. Peaceful families and stable societies cannot grow out of the current direction of our culture in rebellion against God.

As Christians, may we focus on overcoming evil with good. A few suggestions for you to consider:

• Raise your children to accept and live in joyful harmony with the gender God gave them.
• Learn to accept and be thankful for the unchangeable aspects of your person, believing that God made you for a purpose.
• Raise your children with a clear biblical sexual ethic that is serious, but also positive and hopeful.
• Celebrate biblical marriage to your children by living it out before them and raising them with a faith filled hopefulness that they too will one day enter this norm.
• Celebrate and support, in your family and in the church, appropriately young marriage.
• Commit to sexual abstinence before marriage.
• In most cases seek to be married, then be absolutely committed to your spouse in sexual faithfulness.
• Rejoice in the goodness of children and desire them within marriage.
• Protect the lives of all unborn children beginning with their conception.

As Christians, let us struggle against the out-of-control sexual sinfulness of our age by living lives of joyful virtue, self-control, commitment, loyalty, generational family, and godly love. May you not live a life of rebellion against God, for no good thing can come from provoking your Creator.  May we live lives that honor God so that we may be blessed by the Lord Jesus as we live.

• Pastor Vic