Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Season 2 Episode 1: What is God’s Vision for the Family?
58 Plays3 years ago
Mentioned in this episode:
Season 1 Episode 1: How to Have a Rootlike Faith
For Better or for Kids by Patrick and Ruth Schwenk
The Better Mom by Ruth Schwenk
Faith Forward Family Devotional by Patrick and Ruth Schwenk
Connect with Ruth here:
Connect with Pat here:
Please share Rootlike Faith with your friends!
This podcast is produced and edited by Angie Elkins Media, Inc.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Mission
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, I'm Ruth Schwenk and I'm so thrilled you're listening in with us here at Root Like Faith. It's our deepest desire to encourage and equip men and women to be rooted in God's word, transformed by the love of Jesus and moved by his mission in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nothing is more important.
Season Two Overview and Audience Appreciation
00:00:19
Speaker
Well, we are so, so thrilled to be kicking off season two of Root Like Faith. But before we get started, we just want to say, wow, we are blown away by how many of you have listened in through our very first season. We are so, so pumped to just continue to get to know you guys. I mean, this is so much fun. So now that we've gotten the jitters out of the way right in that first season,
00:00:46
Speaker
Um, it's no holds barred. Okay. So who knows what we'll share second season. This is us. We are so glad you're sticking around because we have a fabulous season two planned. Okay. So let's get here to our first episode.
Exploring Family and Faith in Season Two
00:01:02
Speaker
Now for the next two weeks, we are talking about faith in the family. This is a passion of ours. This is so important to us. So specifically on today's episode of Root Like Faith, we are talking about God's vision for the family. What does the Bible actually say about the family? So this is going to be really good. We can't wait. Let's dive in.
00:01:26
Speaker
Well, as we start a new year and a new season, we are looking at faith in the family. And today, what we really want to do is lay a foundation and talk about what the Bible has to say
Family Backgrounds and Parenting Influences
00:01:37
Speaker
about family. So that's kind of our main goal here today. As we get started, though, I think it just be a really good idea to talk about our own families because so much of what we experience growing up shapes who we are today.
00:01:50
Speaker
And I know it can be painful for some. Some of us have had really good experiences growing up, some of us not so much. But we're gonna share a little bit about our background, our history, and then we'll move on from there. So don't you think that's a good place to start, honey? Absolutely. I agree with everything you say. So yes, I think it's a great place to start. Oh, gosh. Oh, here we go. I think you're so right. I think so much of how we parent, either what we do or don't do,
00:02:19
Speaker
can be a reflection of how we were parented. And so I think it's so helpful to kind of go back and just to think about the ways that we were parented, what our family life was like. And there's a lot of things that we can be grateful for and that we sort of transfer over into our own parenting, into our own family. And there's a course in every scenario.
00:02:36
Speaker
things that we leave behind and we don't want to sort of transfer over.
Host's Faith Journey and Family Influence
00:02:40
Speaker
And ultimately what we want to do, which is what you were saying, is we want to align ourselves as a husband and a wife, as a family with what God's Word says about the family. And so that, yeah, it's really our mission today is to kind of talk about that big picture of what the family is all about, how we root ourselves in the family or root faith in the family. And so, you know, I grew up in a Christian home
00:03:02
Speaker
And not that that meant that we were a perfect family by any means, but my dad was a pastor, a church planner. And both of my parents, they got saved kind of later in life. My dad was in high school when he came to faith.
00:03:17
Speaker
my mom was younger, her dad, my grandfather got saved listening to the radio and he heard the gospel. Which is the coolest. It's an amazing story and that decision for my dad to follow Jesus in high school and that decision by my mom to follow her dad's lead in following Jesus impacted not only their lives, but my life and our kids. I mean, generations have been impacted.
00:03:44
Speaker
And so our family today is so different than previous generations. And so I was raised in a Christian home in a ministry home, but you were not. You became a Christian, but in high school. Right, right. So I was not raised in a Christian home, like you said. It's interesting. I think I've shared this before on the podcast, but I always knew that there was something more. And I feel like God,
00:04:12
Speaker
I was seeking him from a very young age and I would even write down prayers. But my home was a loving home. I felt taken care of. So even though I didn't grow up in a Christian home and even though I did have some hard background stuff, my dad was an alcoholic up through fifth grade when I was in fifth grade.
00:04:37
Speaker
And so we went through a lot, even though all of that was going on, my parents still, I still had a home where I felt loved and taken care of. And I had grandparents that were highly involved in my life. And I think that really had an impact on me.
00:04:53
Speaker
Your parents are awesome. I hit
Impact of Family Dynamics and Biblical Examples
00:04:56
Speaker
the jackpot when it comes to in-laws. They are amazing. And both of them are followers of Jesus today. Yes, they are. So I became a Christian in high school because somebody invited me to youth group, the power of an invite. And then after I started following Christ, then my mom came.
00:05:16
Speaker
So, whoa, that'll make you cry. It only took a quarter of an episode of season two to bring on the tears. Right, right. It's worth crying over. But it's still incredible when I think back to it. And so then.
00:05:31
Speaker
Fast forward, my dad now follows Christ. And so it's just incredible to see how God can work in our lives. But going back to just growing up, I think even though there were definitely tumultuous times in my life,
00:05:47
Speaker
um as a child just because of what was going on with my father and just you know in my home my parents still always made me feel loved and taken care of and I think that had a huge impact on me that even though we faced some really hard things like with my dad being an alcoholic which he has been
00:06:07
Speaker
Sober for I don't even know over 30 years over 30 years now That well, that's another thing that's gonna make me You're really on a roll. So well, maybe I'm just a little bit emotional today Anyways, God was so faithful to
00:06:23
Speaker
You know, I feel like he always took care of me. And so, yeah, that's a little bit of my history and your history. And I think, you know, that's obviously what we bring then into our parenting. And God has used some some really influential people in our lives to kind of shape how we parent as well.
00:06:43
Speaker
Yeah, I just think about, again, the families that we come out of. And just really quickly, I mean, I have two older sisters, Sarah and Sandy, who had a huge impact on me spiritually as a child. And so I think as we start talking about family, I mean, there's no perfect family. And the only perfect
Biblical Purpose of Family
00:06:59
Speaker
family that existed didn't exist very long in the garden. And so I just want to encourage upfront before we get into talking more about the family that
00:07:08
Speaker
that there are listeners who they might have experienced divorce, they might be a single parent, you might be a grandparent trying to raise grandkids. And so much of what we're going to be talking about applies to just every situation. And God uses all of the different family dynamics that exist today. And I think about in my own life just how
00:07:30
Speaker
My sisters had a huge impact on me, and I think about examples in the Bible. When Paul was writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy, I mean, most scholars would say that Timothy's dad was not a follower of Jesus, and it was his mom and his grandmother.
00:07:43
Speaker
really had a tremendous impact on young Timothy and really led to him coming to know Jesus as a Savior. And you can see story after story of different men in church history, the same story where it was a mom or a sister that God used. It was that family dynamic that God used. And so just want to say that up front. And I think early on in our marriage and our family, there were some great examples we had of just some really, really
00:08:11
Speaker
godly parents and godly families that really began to shape us early on in our marriage and family that I'm just so grateful for. Yeah and well I want to state here that I didn't you know we didn't go into parenting like feeling like okay we got this we know what we're doing because I remember as a young mom I'm still a young mom right? Youngish. With when my kids were when our when our kids they're not just mine
00:08:39
Speaker
When our kids were very little, I remember, like I can vividly remember feeling like, okay, I'm just trying to make it. I had no real vision for what I was doing as a mom. So I just want to state that upfront because if you're listening and you feel like that, that is not abnormal. It's not like we don't know what to do. And so I remember feeling like
00:09:05
Speaker
I had no idea what I was doing. I was just trying to get by and then I really feel like God used some people in my life to show me that there was so much more, that there was a mission behind, you know, my life as a mom. And then of course our lives as parents.
00:09:19
Speaker
I think that's one of the just the amazing things about God's goodness is it really is a journey. I mean, we've talked about that in, you know, episode one, I think of season one, that just this, this lifelong journey of trust in Jesus is just that a lifelong journey. Right. And God is so good to grow us and to change us over time. And the same is true in family and parenting.
00:09:38
Speaker
And we're still learning and growing. And we're asking people that are further along than us in the journey about this season or this circumstance.
Teaching Children Faith Through Daily Life
00:09:46
Speaker
But I think of Michael and Barb Spencer. I know we've talked about them many times before. They were a family early on in our lives that just really shaped us in our marriage and our family and our parenting. Clay and Sally Clarkson were extraordinary role models in just a fountain of wisdom for us. And both of those families still are
00:10:07
Speaker
today. And so I'm so grateful for those families that God used to really shape our family. And so we're still learning, we're still growing. And so again, today, what we want to do is just sort of step back and go, okay, what's the big picture? How does God want to grow faith in our marriage and in our family? How is God using the family to pass on faith to the next generation? And why is understanding God's vision
00:10:31
Speaker
For the family so important. Well, I think it's so so Critical today. I mean you just think about what's happening in our culture. I mean our society is It's a mess, you know right now and we're seeing so much sort of You know division and hatred and we I mean it's a mess I mean we just use all sorts of descriptives to talk about what's going on in our culture and
00:10:54
Speaker
And so the family in God's eyes is something to be like a shaper of culture. I mean, when the family goes wrong, a culture goes wrong. And when the family is strong, a culture or society is strong. And so the family is so important. I mean, it is the school for learning life and doing life, and it is so important.
00:11:19
Speaker
Um, even more so today than maybe ever before that I can remember that we have, um, strong families that we're building on a strong foundation. Yeah. And I think that a lot of people think, well, what can I do like with all that's going on in our culture? How can I, you know, make a difference? And I'm, I always go back to like, look at the people that you have the most influence over right now in your home. Right. And that's where your impact begins.
00:11:43
Speaker
Yep, absolutely, and I think this is a really good place for us. Maybe just to dive into a couple key passages when we think about the family, as we think about God's vision for the family, let's look at a couple key passages in the scriptures and just kind of build a biblical or theological foundation for the family, a biblical or theological foundation for God's heart and his purpose, his mission for the family. And so let's begin, Genesis chapter one,
00:12:09
Speaker
verses 27 through 28, I think is a really key passage for understanding God's role, God's purpose or mission for the family. I want to just read these couple short verses at the very beginning. Of course, Genesis 1, Genesis 2,
00:12:25
Speaker
is really the story of God creating the world. And we see God's purpose and his design for marriage and for family at the very beginning, something that has not changed. And so this is what the writer of Genesis says. He says, so God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, he created them. Male and female, he created them. God blessed them and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number, be fruitful and multiply.
00:12:54
Speaker
fill the earth and subdue it, rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground." And so one of the important things, again, I think with Genesis 1, there's a ton we could talk about with that passage. But God's intention was to bring a man and a woman together, one man, one woman for one life, and He tells them to be fruitful and multiply. In other words, to build a family.
00:13:18
Speaker
And God's vision then for that man and that woman
Parenting as a Masterpiece
00:13:21
Speaker
was to build a family and that that family would be the bedrock of a civilization. It would build culture, it would shape society. And so the family is that important to God. God intended and still intends to use the family to shape culture, to build a society, to build a civilization. And again, when the family is strong, the culture is strong or that society is strong. But when the family begins to fall apart,
00:13:47
Speaker
and deteriorate and break down, so does the culture, so does the society. And so God's heart from the very beginning was for a man and a woman to come together for one life and to build a family. Deuteronomy 6 is another great example, you know, where Moses is speaking to the Israelites and he says, here, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength. These commands that I give you today
00:14:13
Speaker
or to be on your hearts, impress them on your children, talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads, write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. And again, this is God's intention.
00:14:30
Speaker
for His people in the Old Testament under the Old Covenant to build a strong family and to pass on faith and for God's commandments, His desire, His will to be in them, for them to be pursuing righteousness and holiness and godliness, and then to pass that on
00:14:47
Speaker
to the next generation. He gives them some very practical ways to do that. I feel like that Deuteronomy 6, which maybe some of you already have this in your home, but it's like you just want to plaster that scripture, Deuteronomy 6, 4 through 9, like somewhere where everybody can see it all the time in your home because it's so powerful. And that's called the Shema. The Shema is just the Hebrew word for here. And if you've ever been into a synagogue or if you've gone into maybe a friend's house that is Jewish, you'll notice that on the doorframe, there's a little wooden frame or little wooden box
00:15:17
Speaker
called a mezuzah, and inside that mezuzah is that passage. And again, it's that reminder, we're gonna love God with all of our heart, soul, and strength when we go into our home, and we're gonna love God with all of our heart, soul, and strength when we leave our home. And so it's just a constant reminder that God really does love the family. He wants to use the family,
00:15:36
Speaker
to pass on faith to the next generation, to shape culture, to build a society, to do good in the world. And then in the New Testament, Ephesians chapter six is another example of just the role that parents play or should play in the life of a child. Yeah, I'll read that scripture since you read the other two. What Bible hog?
00:16:01
Speaker
I'm a pastor, honey. You're like, let me read these. Okay. So Ephesians 6, 1 through 4 says, children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.
00:16:18
Speaker
fathers do not exasperate your children. Instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. And so, you know, as you were reading the other passages and we read this one, I'm reminded of again, like I said earlier, we don't we don't enter a parenthood knowing what to do. And I feel like
00:16:37
Speaker
This is kind of funny. But when I was younger, I used to watch on PBS, you know, the the painter. His name is Bob Ross. Bob Ross. I've always been so envious of his. I mean, not only his painting, but his hair. Oh my.
00:16:52
Speaker
So if you don't know who Bob Ross is, which I'm sure you do, Google him right now and you will understand why I'm so envious. OK, honey, let me tell the story here. So so I used to watch Bob Ross, which I don't know why, but it was fascinating to me, I guess. But you know, when you Bob Ross is a painter and so he starts with this blank canvas and I feel like his parents, you know, that's that's what we've got going on here. We're starting with this blank canvas.
00:17:17
Speaker
And I would watch Bob Ross and little by little he would, you know, he just paint these brush strokes and it would be like a little bit of green here and a little bit of blue here. And it was just so obscure. You had no idea what he was putting together, you know, what he was painting. But, you know, slowly the picture was revealed. And I feel like as parents,
00:17:41
Speaker
That's what it feels like to me. I can see that God has this beautiful picture for the family and I'm just being faithful little by little because sometimes these verses can be overwhelming and it can feel like, gosh, is this even reality? How do I get to this point? Can I really raise kids who are going to love the Lord and be a light to the world?
00:18:02
Speaker
Um, and I think little by little, one day at a time, and this doesn't look perfect, but one day at a time, it's like brushstroke after brushstroke. We are painting this beautiful painting, um, that really God only knows the final picture. Um, but I feel like that, that helps me. I don't know. That helps me kind of see this, this vision that God has for the family. And I, I just take, you know, it's one step at a time, one brushstroke.
00:18:28
Speaker
I think using that analogy, God knows the vision of the painting. He knows what it is that he's asking you to pick up your brush and paint. That's what we're talking about today. This is God's vision. This is his heart for every family that calls on the name of Jesus and desires to honor him in their home.
00:18:49
Speaker
honor Him in the world, and yet as parents, yeah, we're picking up that brush with a blank canvas, and we're just one stroke at a time, one stroke at a time, being faithful to layer upon layer by God's grace, bring that vision that God has in His word into fruition and onto
Raising Children to Follow Jesus
00:19:09
Speaker
the canvas. There's a great quote by G.K. Chesterton,
00:19:13
Speaker
Or he says, you can't tidy anything without untidying yourself. I love that. And what he meant by that is that every work of art, everything you do or give yourself to, you're going to get dirty in the process. And so the gardener goes out and gets dirt in her fingertips or her nails. Fingernails. Fingernails. Well, I mean, it goes on your fingertips too, but really it's in
00:19:35
Speaker
It's messy, right? And so as you're beautifying a yard or beautifying a garden, you get dirty in the process. And as a painter is painting a picture, you get paint on your shirt or on your hands and yet the masterpiece that comes out of that. And I think it's so important for us just kind of continuing on with that theme that you're talking about is that it's so important for us as parents, as Christian parents, as we're trying to paint that picture.
00:19:58
Speaker
that we don't get too worried about getting dirty in the process. We're not always gonna have the perfect home. That's not the canvas that we're painting on. That's not the masterpiece that we're after, but we're trying to paint the masterpiece that is a fully grown son or daughter who's walking with the Lord, who loves Jesus, who's honoring him.
00:20:17
Speaker
And that's a messy process. And ultimately, it's God's grace that brings that about. It's ultimately God's grace that brings a son or a daughter someday to saving faith in Jesus and changes that heart. But we have a role to play. There's this great responsibility, great privilege that we have as moms and dads, as a parent, to be a part of that process. You know, I was thinking about when you were telling that story, the painting and Bob Ross, and after I stopped thinking about his hair,
00:20:44
Speaker
I was thinking about a story of a good friend of mine. I only had a couple friends growing up. That's not true. He does that all the time. His dad was a hunter. I think we tell this story in our book, For Better or For Kids. It's just a shameless plug there for a book we released a couple years ago in 2016. It's been that long. It's hard to believe it. For Better or For Kids, I think we tell this story about how
00:21:06
Speaker
One of my good friends, his dad was a hunter, and we found a bow and arrow in his garage one day. And we took it out. And of course, we were like, I don't know, we were maybe in sixth grade, seventh grade at the time. So I weighed 100 pounds soaking wet. I had very little physical strength.
00:21:21
Speaker
And so I remember we took it out and it was backyard and it's hard to shoot a bow. Oh my word. Anyways, and so we were pulling this bow back and the arrow shot up in the air and shot maybe 40, 50 feet in the air and actually landed on the neighbor's roof.
00:21:40
Speaker
And I don't remember what happened after that. I sort of blocked that out of my memory. But I know in the book, we talk about that. It's such a great illustration of sometimes how we parent, that we don't have a target or a bullseye that we're aiming at. And we just sometimes as parents are shooting arrows just sort of all over. And so I think as we kind of wrap up this episode and kind of build this biblical foundation or theological foundation for a Christian family, a Christian home, it's really important for us just to make mention of the ultimate goal
00:22:09
Speaker
the ultimate target is for us to be aiming at raising kids who are followers of Jesus. And so when you think about the Great Commission, Jesus tells his followers to go make disciples. And I think one of the things that we ought to think about as a Christian dad or a Christian mom
00:22:26
Speaker
Christian grandparent is that we ought to go home. We ought to look at our home first and foremost when it comes to raising up disciples. And of course, we look beyond that as well, but we ought to look first and foremost to those that God has entrusted us with, our own sons and our own daughters or grandkids, and ask the question, how do we partner with God's grace to see this son or daughter, this grandchild grow up to love Jesus? I mean, that's the target. It's not having the star athlete,
00:22:55
Speaker
It's not having a child that gets into an elite college someday. It's not the cultural expert, the person that is an expert in French or dance or whatever. All of those things are great. But ultimately what we're aiming at, what we're shooting for is to raise a child who grows up to love Jesus and serves him and is walking with him when they leave our home.
Resources and Community Engagement
00:23:17
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. And that it just brought to mind a quote that I have loved for many years, and it's by Mother Teresa. And she says, if you want to change the world, go home and love your family. And I feel like that's so relevant for today. You know, if you want to change the world, go home and love your family. So
00:23:37
Speaker
I think we could keep this combo going, really. I mean, this is like, like I said earlier, this is our passion. Come on, we could keep talking about this. But we're going to come back to this topic, get a little more practical next week. If you want to dive in deeper, you can grab a copy of our book for better for kids about a love your spouse with kids in the house. We also have a book. Well, I have a book called The Better Mom. You didn't write the book, The Better Mom.
00:24:03
Speaker
That would be weird. And then we have a devotional for your family specifically. It's a hundred devotions to go through with your family and it's called faith forward. And it's meant to help you kind of pass on faith.
00:24:18
Speaker
And we spent a great deal of time writing that devotional to really include stories from the beginning of the Bible to the end of the Bible. So you can grab a copy of our family devotional, Faith Forward. I'll be sure that we put the links to all of those books in the show notes. Well, this has been an awesome conversation. We'd love for you to keep joining us, get to know us a little better on Instagram.
00:24:43
Speaker
at Patrick W. Schwank and at Ruth Schwank or on Facebook. Also, don't forget again that everything we've talked about is on our website, rootlikefaith.com forward slash podcast. And as if we haven't said it enough already, we are so, so thrilled you are joining us and we welcome you into our family here at Root Like Faith.
00:25:05
Speaker
Would you do us a big favor? It would be so helpful. We'd be so grateful if you would leave us a review or rating and share this podcast with your friends. It just takes a second. It's a tremendous help to us as we spread the word about root-like faith. We're so grateful for you and helping us get the word out. Okay, friend. Well, we'll chat soon. I hope you have a great week.