A Christian Home   (29:23)

I Corinthians 11:3.  But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Ephesians 5:29.  For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church.

I Peter 3:4.  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

You know, a soldier can put on the armor and go to war, and then get licked.  But when he comes back from the civil war, crowned, and with the heads of the enemies on his bayonet, why, then you can shout, “He’s won the victory.” 

When my brother was a very little boy and had his first tooth pulled, he created a sensation in our home town.  He had heard that the dentist had a nice swivel chair that went around like this, and he always wanted to ride a merry-go-round, so he couldn’t wait till he got into that chair.  He wanted to have a ride; he wanted to go around, you know.  But the dentist just put him in the chair and said, “Where’s the tooth?” and yanked it out, and my brother yelled at the top of his voice, and didn’t even stop, paying for the job.  He ran down the main street, yelling at that dentist.

And you know, when I see the bride—“Here comes the bride.”  My, I’ve seen so many sweet, really sweet brides.  Nobody pays much attention to the bridegroom; it’s the bride.

[German transcription unavailable]

It’s like a soldier going on parade, but after a while, to be led into the warfare, you know, that’s a different matter.  And then, when I see the man, the bridegroom, and the best man and ushers file in from the side, they sort of have an attitude, “Hail Caesar, we who are about to die salute you.”

Well, there’s something to a wedding, but beloved, it’s only a beginning, and what good is it if the ending isn’t still better?  That’s why I say we ought to celebrate silver weddings.  I like to see the old husband and the old wife looking lovingly into one another’s eyes, she calling him “Pa,” and he, “My lotus petal, my gentle evening star.”  But instead of that, “Have a little pity on a poor married man.  In search of peace I roam!” 

Well, the Bible has something to say about that, and I’ll be very brief.

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The only thing that makes the husband a worthy head of the family: when Christ is his head.  Why then, married life—to be a husband—becomes a Holy Ghost ministry for which you will give an account in the Day of Judgment.  And it was God’s plan that the family should be the foundation stone for the church.  In fact in the early days, the churches were all associated with homes and with families.  The father was the minister, filled with the Holy Ghost, Christ his head.  Christ commands, Christ equips him, Christ fills him.  He is united to the Son of God like the branch is united to the vine, and if he has a wife and if he has a family, that’s his ministry, and he needs the grace of Almighty God to be the proper head of a home.  What a wonderful home that is, when the father, the head of the family, is a holy priest.

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Prayer in the church is the barometer.  If you want to know the spiritual condition of a church, don’t go to the committee meetings; you won’t find it out there.  Go to a prayer meeting.  See how many men there are, and see how they pray.  See whether they “lift up holy hands without wrath and doubting.”  Why are there not more men who are passionately desirous of praying?  They don’t have “holy hands.”  That’s what’s the matter.  God has forsaken them.

If God lives in you, man, He’ll make a man out of you.  He’ll put the dignity of true manhood upon you, and you will be united to Jesus Christ, and you’ll take orders from Him, and the Spirit of God will fall upon you, and flow through you to the blessing of humanity—to the blessing, first of all, of your wife, and of your family, of your children, and of your neighborhood.  That was God’s plan.

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Is your family filled with God?  It depends on you.  How often the Bible talks about “the church that is in his home.”  Every home is a church.  If you’re a child of God, then your home is a church.  There must be an altar there.

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And when we look into the world, we see nothing but broken homes, or many broken homes.  Where does juvenile delinquency come from?  We know: from broken homes.  And the whole world today suffers because men have broken the eternal covenant.

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“Send Lazarus to my brethren.  They’re all in the divorce courts too; they’re doing just like I did.”

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I always say if you have to have a television set, tune in on hell!  Then it will do you some good; it’ll wake you up; it’ll make you realize what sin does to men who “crucify the Son of God afresh.”

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It’s a wonderful thing when a woman really loves her husband.  And the Bible says they should love their husbands and the husband should love the wife “like Christ loved the Church.”

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[A Christian woman] is living for the welfare of her home.  That’s where God placed her.  That’s her ministry: her husband, her children, her home.

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You see them walking around with pants on and cigarettes in their mouths.  You say, “God have mercy on this generation.”  That’s womanhood for you!

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But listen, there’s a (…) power from heaven that is waiting to fill you with the Holy Ghost and make you realize that you are a handmaiden of the Lord.

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Oh, when a wife recognizes that her head is her husband, and God has given her this protector—not to rule over her, but to protect her, to love her, to cherish her, and that they too are “heirs together of the blessing of eternal life.”  And I’ll tell you another thing: husbands and wives don’t fulfill without one another.  They have chosen each other, and they must fulfill together, and if one lags behind, the other one is going to lose out.

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Shouldn’t we aim to please Him who is the head of all things, “who is above all, and through all, and in us all”?  I believe the Lord will help us.

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But it’s in the Bible, and if we get it from the Bible—oh, thank God—then we get it out of the mouth of Jehovah, and it’ll put life into us.  And oh, what happy homes when God dwells there, and God is recognized, and everyone strives to please Jesus!

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A young woman who married a drunkard. “How did she ever get to marry that man?  That’s what’s the matter with girls and fellows…  And today, shame on humanity, and shame on the church of Jesus Christ that does not regard Jesus as the Head and the Master and the Lord.  ‘I need Thee,’ we say; but in my love affair, ‘Don’t bother me.  Don’t You come too close to me.  I’ve got my own plans.  The flesh and the world and devil are commanding me.’”    (from 7:40)

Following the wrong leader: a string of electrocutions: “Here was the coon and the dog and man and the wife all in one string.”    (from 9:08)

An illustration of the warmth of familial love.  “Listen, it was done with love… To this day, I still feel the blessing of it.”    (from 16:46)

An illustration of marital affection grown cold.  “I came to visit someone one day.  I opened the door.  The wife thought it was her ‘lotus petal,’ and she yelled at me!  …There was no ‘honey’ there, but vinegar.”    (from 22:41)

An illustration of love and order in the home. “He was coming home to a home.  What is home without a mother?  And what is home for a husband without a wife that is thoughtful of him?”    (from 24:00)

[German transcription unavailable]

[English translation unavailable]

O lieb, so lang du lieben kannst! verses 1 and 4
Ferdinand Freiligrath, ca. 1840

“Don’t Take Me Home.” Music by Harry Von Tilzer. Words by Vincent Bryan and Harry Taylor. Sydney Albert and Son, 1908. Comic Novelty Song featured by William Cromwell in Rupert Clarke, John Wren, and Maynell and Gunn’s operatic pantomime Cinderella.

Augustus James McCann
Is a henpecked married man.
He’s been fighting with his wife
Since their married life began.

One night at halfpast three,
While out upon a spree,
A ‘motor’ knocked him down and out,
And it nearly broke his knee.

The chauffer raised Mac’s head.
He said, “This man is dead.
We’ll take this man home to his wife.”
Then Mac rose up and said,

“Don’t take me home.
Please, don’t take me home.
Tell me, what did I do to you?
O-O-O, have a little pity.

“I’m a poor married man,
In search of peace I roam.
I’m with you in anything you do,
But don’t take me home.”

Audio Quality: Fair