Roy Van Der Westhuizen
Roy started a new series this week called Kingdom Culture. He started the series talking about the difference between the earthly family culture and the heavenly family culture. Each family is different and has a culture that is unique to them. In the same way that we are born into an earthly family, we are also born again into a heavenly family. Just like there is a culture to our earthly family there is also a culture to our heavenly family. The heavenly family culture is set by God and we are always working to more fully live out the heavenly family culture, in some cases this means renouncing our earthly family culture. This doesn't mean that we reject the people but rather the views of that culture. Roy shared Mark 3:31-35 where Jesus' family visited Jesus, but Jesus shared that those who do the father's will are his family. He doesn't reject them outright but indicates that the priority is to serve the Father. He always honors his mother, even when on the cross he makes sure that his mother Mary is cared for by giving her to John. Roy made the quote that "You honor your family, but you obey the Father." Roy shared the story of his father and grandfather. His grandfather was a successful architect and valued that above most other things. Roy's father started to follow in his footsteps and went to college for architecture. He met Jesus in his senior year and gave everything to him. When he graduated he turned down a prestigious position in order to preach the gospel in the jungle. Roy's grandfather couldn't understand this and it caused great strain in their relationship. Later when Roy and his parents were living in Chile, Roy's grandfather developed a severe depression that lasted for ten years. When nothing else worked he remembered his son was a pastor and that there might be some relief there. Roy's grandfather gave himself over to Christ and was transformed. He visited Roy's father in Chile and shared how proud and excited he was for the work Roy was doing. Roy's grandfather had never been proud of his son before, or at least could never show it. The transformation from an earthly family culture to a heavenly family culture allowed a healthy relationship to happen between Roy's father and his grandfather. Roy concluded on the point that we can better love our family when we are a part of the heavenly family culture rather than an earthly family culture.
