Family Going to Church

• Posted by Ben Cotten on Oct 13, 2008 • 540CommentsFamily+Going+to+Church2008-10-13+18%3A50%3A13Ben+Cotten

This is a nice video from the recent Desiring God conference. It’s convicting, so if you don’t want to feel convicted don’t watch it.

Link to video

Comments

Priscilla says:

October 13th, 2008 at 3:53 pm

Been there many times…

Greg says:

October 14th, 2008 at 1:13 pm

I was waiting to see if this guy was the pastor and was going to preach on “loving your wife & family” or something! I remember one time before a wedding Jan and I got into a HUGE fight and then we went into the church and we were all smiles like nothing ever happened. I thought, “wow, we’re good actors!”

On another note: Ben I found a blog I think you’ll like if you haven’t seen it. It’s http://www.rhettsmith.com

Have a great day!

Greg says:

October 14th, 2008 at 1:16 pm

Well, specifically these 2 posts. Maybe a good topic for you to also blog on…?

http://www.rhettsmith.com/?p=1233

http://www.rhettsmith.com/?p=1236 (follow-up post to the one above)

ded says:

October 14th, 2008 at 5:10 pm

Ok. If we regard the video as a true reflection on our state, what is there to do otherwise? How does the husband in particular change? We say we believe the husband is the leader. How does he lead other than in the stressed/blessed dichotomy which speaks volumes of how not to be and is, at least in part, an explanation for why second generation Christians follow the OT example of rejecting the faith of the fathers?

Ben, this is my heartbeat. How does the common guy, who pretty much understands what he is told over the pulpit, learn the deeper truth of the way of love?

What exactly is the role of the pastor in feeding this guy so that he is effective in leading his family?

What does it mean to see a convicting video? Does conviction equip someone to walk in the spirit?

These are my thoughts after watching your post.

Ben Cotten says:

October 15th, 2008 at 9:55 am

Thanks, ded, for taking us a little deeper… I’ll venture some possible answers, though I hope I’m not the only one to do so.

How does the common guy, who pretty much understands what he is told over the pulpit, learn the deeper truth of the way of love?

“Understanding” may begin for him at the pulpit, but certainly doesn’t end there. The truth of scripture is digested in community. It’s within the context of relationships with other people that we internalize and live-out the Truth that has confronted us at the pulpit. Does “love your neighbor as yourself” mean anything outside the context of community? I believe the breakdown in most churches is that true community doesn’t exist.

What exactly is the role of the pastor in feeding this guy so that he is effective in leading his family?

Assuming a certain size of the church, the pastor shouldn’t be the only one feeding him! This goes back to the concept of community. There should be a reciprocating feeding that happens. While he is being fed, he feeds someone else. I like the picture of Jesus feeding the 5,000. He didn’t actually feed them, the disciples did.

Does conviction equip someone to walk in the spirit?

Nope. I’d say repentance does. Conviction should push us to repentance. Conviction w/out repentance is a hard heart. Repentance requires the enablement of the Holy Spirit to see the gospel of grace as a reality for us specifically. It requires an intervention by God.