Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Ethan (00:00):
Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast
dedicated to faithful parentsnavigating their families
through a stormy culture
Paul (2) (00:07):
This is Raising Joyful Children in an Angry World.
I'm your host, Paul Osborne.
We've been talking about takingstories as a way to form godly
character and how that works.
We've talked about stories andadventures and practice, but
today I want to focus on story.
(00:28):
There is a documentary calledthe power of film hosted by UCLA
professor Howard Suber.
It's on max and some otherstreaming services.
His powerful explanation of whystory matters is worth a listen.
Subra explains the connectionbetween the human experience and
(00:49):
story.
He takes us from Greek mythologyto modern film and explains why
we're attracted to story in ourhumanity.
And he shows us how story playsa role in the formation of what
we are and why we're here.
He believes the most common andpowerful stories Are about
(01:11):
family, the most importantinstitution of humanity.
And you can't miss theimportance of story in watching
a couple of these series thatare produced.
In the Christian worldview,stories teach us what is seen
and what is unseen.
And it's what is unseen that ismost important.
(01:36):
Even in this UCLA professor, Hedoes see the soul and connects
to this truth.
Jonathan Eldridge on a recentpodcast reminds his audience
that our lives are notpaintings.
They're a story from Hemingwayto Maya Angelou, from Harvard to
(01:56):
Hollywood.
If there's one universallyagreed to truth, it centers
around the power, influence, andsignificance of story.
In the human experience, storiesare foundational to the
orientation of our children inbecoming godly men and women of
(02:18):
Christian virtue.
Stories are formational to ourcharacter development and
grasping our faith.
The stories of the Bible and thestories that reflect biblical
truth are essential in characterbuilding of our kids.
God does not leave us without acollection of stories and the
(02:40):
framework of biblical truth.
So don't let the world tell youthat the stories of the Bible
are myths, especially in thederogatory use of the term myth.
The Bible is the inspired wordof God.
Any serious study of the Bibleand a little bit of comparative
literature leads you to theconclusion our Bible is not man
(03:04):
made fiction.
Therefore, children, Christianchildren, must know some of its
stories because God uses hiswords and stories to build in us
his character.
The stories take us to real lifesituations.
They provide tremendous truth.
It's raw and real so that ourkids walk through their story
(03:28):
They have these principles toguide them.
We're given a child that has asinful nature.
And most of us do notoverestimate the sinful
condition.
In fact, we tend to rebrand itas a little imperfection, a
little scratch on the car, aloose thread, a blemish.
(03:49):
But the Bible tells us that theheart is deceitful above all
things.
And that doesn't mean that ourkids are somehow sociopaths, but
it doesn't mean they're slightlyflawed.
It means that they are createdin the image of God, but they
are have a sinful nature and webecome sneaky beings that try to
get our own way.
(04:09):
Please ourselves, manipulate allthat are around us, all while
knowing what we're doing iswrong.
In fact, the nature is so trickythat we fool ourselves.
We do what we do not want to doand often fail to do what we
know we ought to do.
Parents need a way to deal withthat beyond confrontation,
(04:34):
discipline, or getting angrywith our kids.
Stories give us a tactical wayto wrestle with this nature.
beyond our parental effortswhile fully trusting God for
their formation.
See, part of the way we trustGod to work in the hearts of our
kids is to share his storiesthat are meant to transform
(04:56):
their hearts and their minds andtheir souls.
One way to describe the waystory works is the word graft.
Not the way it's used inpolitical corruption, but
grafting a branch of a treewhere the small branch takes the
sap from the larger branch, askin graft.
(05:18):
You take healthy skin and youattach it to the damaged skin.
The scripture teaches us aboutbecoming grafted, the branch
being grafted to the vine whereChrist is.
There's a sense that our storyis grafted to God's story.
It is this mystery in whichthose who believe are grafted to
(05:39):
the vine and abide in Jesus.
It's this plant like vascularsystem that's described in those
texts.
Food is the word and the wordcontains story.
So first I want to start withthe story of Joseph and his coat
(06:00):
of many colors.
We'll go into this story in thenext podcast.
But here are some things I wantto search for when I share a
story with my kids.
Who, what, how, plot, motive,the parallel, and what is
unseen.
That's the most important thing.
(06:20):
If you teach this story ofJoseph and the coat of many
colors that, oh, there werethese brothers and they were
jealous of the coat, and so itwas jealousy's bad, so don't be
jealous.
You're missing the story.
Who is the main character?
Joseph, but there's a parallelin this story.
(06:40):
The hero in it is God in hisredemptive work.
See this is a story of a familythat is in the full throes of
being guided by the flesh andthe world.
It's a you do you attitude.
The entire family starts withJacob who becomes Israel.
His father in law does a two forone marriage.
(07:01):
It's a messy situation of manywives over the years.
The family structure ismassively blended brotherhood,
multiple mamas, and it'sswimming far from the shore of
the original creative order offamily.
We're gonna see favoritism,pride, envy, and the main
(07:24):
characters false assumptionsabout leadership.
We're gonna see a band ofbrothers who justify sin cover
it rather than confess it.
The deadly sin of envy.
pride, traps, sinful collusions.
And our character moves from onetrap to the next as God redeems
what's broken in this family toaccomplish his greater purpose.
(07:49):
He uses their evil to advancehis kingdom.
As our lead character discoversthe gifts of servant leadership
for the greater good found inGod's plan, as will his entire
family.
So we're going to see thisstory, the way God forms
character, despite thedysfunctional family of sinful
(08:11):
attributes.
Again, who's the main character?
What's the motivations?
What's been lost?
Where's the trap?
How do you escape?
How does the character find thepower to change?
How does God form character inthe members of this family?
We might not be able to askthese questions in every story,
(08:32):
but we can teach story in theframework of faith.
to help our kids look for theseclues and meanings as we present
it.
See, great stories are graspedwith the right questions because
they help us gain the rightunderstanding.
We recognize emotions andstruggle.
(08:52):
Helping our kids see who, how,why reaches the unseen parts of
the soul that's asking who,what, and why.
This story of Joseph and thecoat of many colors is a great
family drama for us to start inour next podcast on this story.
(09:15):
We'll see handling of ourparents imperfections,
interpreting our dreamscorrectly, sin, beginning sin,
confession of sin versus thecovering of sin and the way God
works.
The main thing I want to closewith is this.
We and our kids are beingbrought up in a society for a
(09:38):
long time that has been strippedof mystery.
It demands everything be seen,measured, empirically tested.
It's a world that lives bysight.
And if we believe that we liveby faith and not by sight, then
stories must reveal to us whatis unseen.
(10:01):
And in doing so, it's going tostrengthen our faith and the
faith of our family as the Bibledefines it.
Amen.
And your kids will learn thatwhat's unseen matters more than
what is seen.
The ultimate battle for theheart and soul is a fight for
(10:24):
identity.
Our king invites our kids toknow who they are, what to
believe, and where they belong.
Until next time, let's rememberthe words for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven.
Raising joyful children in an angry world, a podcast
dedicated to faithful parentsnavigating their families
through a stormy culture
Paul (2) (00:07):
This is Raising Joyful Children in an Angry World.
I'm your host, Paul Osborne.
We've been talking about takingstories as a way to form godly
character and how that works.
We've talked about stories andadventures and practice, but
today I want to focus on story.
(00:28):
There is a documentary calledthe power of film hosted by UCLA
professor Howard Suber.
It's on max and some otherstreaming services.
His powerful explanation of whystory matters is worth a listen.
Subra explains the connectionbetween the human experience and
(00:49):
story.
He takes us from Greek mythologyto modern film and explains why
we're attracted to story in ourhumanity.
And he shows us how story playsa role in the formation of what
we are and why we're here.
He believes the most common andpowerful stories Are about
(01:11):
family, the most importantinstitution of humanity.
And you can't miss theimportance of story in watching
a couple of these series thatare produced.
In the Christian worldview,stories teach us what is seen
and what is unseen.
And it's what is unseen that ismost important.
(01:36):
Even in this UCLA professor, Hedoes see the soul and connects
to this truth.
Jonathan Eldridge on a recentpodcast reminds his audience
that our lives are notpaintings.
They're a story from Hemingwayto Maya Angelou, from Harvard to
(01:56):
Hollywood.
If there's one universallyagreed to truth, it centers
around the power, influence, andsignificance of story.
In the human experience, storiesare foundational to the
orientation of our children inbecoming godly men and women of
(02:18):
Christian virtue.
Stories are formational to ourcharacter development and
grasping our faith.
The stories of the Bible and thestories that reflect biblical
truth are essential in characterbuilding of our kids.
God does not leave us without acollection of stories and the
(02:40):
framework of biblical truth.
So don't let the world tell youthat the stories of the Bible
are myths, especially in thederogatory use of the term myth.
The Bible is the inspired wordof God.
Any serious study of the Bibleand a little bit of comparative
literature leads you to theconclusion our Bible is not man
(03:04):
made fiction.
Therefore, children, Christianchildren, must know some of its
stories because God uses hiswords and stories to build in us
his character.
The stories take us to real lifesituations.
They provide tremendous truth.
It's raw and real so that ourkids walk through their story
(03:28):
They have these principles toguide them.
We're given a child that has asinful nature.
And most of us do notoverestimate the sinful
condition.
In fact, we tend to rebrand itas a little imperfection, a
little scratch on the car, aloose thread, a blemish.
(03:49):
But the Bible tells us that theheart is deceitful above all
things.
And that doesn't mean that ourkids are somehow sociopaths, but
it doesn't mean they're slightlyflawed.
It means that they are createdin the image of God, but they
are have a sinful nature and webecome sneaky beings that try to
get our own way.
(04:09):
Please ourselves, manipulate allthat are around us, all while
knowing what we're doing iswrong.
In fact, the nature is so trickythat we fool ourselves.
We do what we do not want to doand often fail to do what we
know we ought to do.
Parents need a way to deal withthat beyond confrontation,
(04:34):
discipline, or getting angrywith our kids.
Stories give us a tactical wayto wrestle with this nature.
beyond our parental effortswhile fully trusting God for
their formation.
See, part of the way we trustGod to work in the hearts of our
kids is to share his storiesthat are meant to transform
(04:56):
their hearts and their minds andtheir souls.
One way to describe the waystory works is the word graft.
Not the way it's used inpolitical corruption, but
grafting a branch of a treewhere the small branch takes the
sap from the larger branch, askin graft.
(05:18):
You take healthy skin and youattach it to the damaged skin.
The scripture teaches us aboutbecoming grafted, the branch
being grafted to the vine whereChrist is.
There's a sense that our storyis grafted to God's story.
It is this mystery in whichthose who believe are grafted to
(05:39):
the vine and abide in Jesus.
It's this plant like vascularsystem that's described in those
texts.
Food is the word and the wordcontains story.
So first I want to start withthe story of Joseph and his coat
(06:00):
of many colors.
We'll go into this story in thenext podcast.
But here are some things I wantto search for when I share a
story with my kids.
Who, what, how, plot, motive,the parallel, and what is
unseen.
That's the most important thing.
(06:20):
If you teach this story ofJoseph and the coat of many
colors that, oh, there werethese brothers and they were
jealous of the coat, and so itwas jealousy's bad, so don't be
jealous.
You're missing the story.
Who is the main character?
Joseph, but there's a parallelin this story.
(06:40):
The hero in it is God in hisredemptive work.
See this is a story of a familythat is in the full throes of
being guided by the flesh andthe world.
It's a you do you attitude.
The entire family starts withJacob who becomes Israel.
His father in law does a two forone marriage.
(07:01):
It's a messy situation of manywives over the years.
The family structure ismassively blended brotherhood,
multiple mamas, and it'sswimming far from the shore of
the original creative order offamily.
We're gonna see favoritism,pride, envy, and the main
(07:24):
characters false assumptionsabout leadership.
We're gonna see a band ofbrothers who justify sin cover
it rather than confess it.
The deadly sin of envy.
pride, traps, sinful collusions.
And our character moves from onetrap to the next as God redeems
what's broken in this family toaccomplish his greater purpose.
(07:49):
He uses their evil to advancehis kingdom.
As our lead character discoversthe gifts of servant leadership
for the greater good found inGod's plan, as will his entire
family.
So we're going to see thisstory, the way God forms
character, despite thedysfunctional family of sinful
(08:11):
attributes.
Again, who's the main character?
What's the motivations?
What's been lost?
Where's the trap?
How do you escape?
How does the character find thepower to change?
How does God form character inthe members of this family?
We might not be able to askthese questions in every story,
(08:32):
but we can teach story in theframework of faith.
to help our kids look for theseclues and meanings as we present
it.
See, great stories are graspedwith the right questions because
they help us gain the rightunderstanding.
We recognize emotions andstruggle.
(08:52):
Helping our kids see who, how,why reaches the unseen parts of
the soul that's asking who,what, and why.
This story of Joseph and thecoat of many colors is a great
family drama for us to start inour next podcast on this story.
(09:15):
We'll see handling of ourparents imperfections,
interpreting our dreamscorrectly, sin, beginning sin,
confession of sin versus thecovering of sin and the way God
works.
The main thing I want to closewith is this.
We and our kids are beingbrought up in a society for a
(09:38):
long time that has been strippedof mystery.
It demands everything be seen,measured, empirically tested.
It's a world that lives bysight.
And if we believe that we liveby faith and not by sight, then
stories must reveal to us whatis unseen.
(10:01):
And in doing so, it's going tostrengthen our faith and the
faith of our family as the Bibledefines it.
Amen.
And your kids will learn thatwhat's unseen matters more than
what is seen.
The ultimate battle for theheart and soul is a fight for
(10:24):
identity.
Our king invites our kids toknow who they are, what to
believe, and where they belong.
Until next time, let's rememberthe words for theirs is the
Kingdom of Heaven.
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