On Sibling Rivalries

Ask Pastor John

Desiring God

John Piper, Unknown, 163859, Pastor, Ask, Theology, Desiring God, Religion & Spirituality/christianity, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Questions

4.8 • 3.8K Ratings

🗓️ 29 June 2023

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sibling rivalries have fractured families since Cain and Abel. So, how does God work redemptively between siblings, and how might parents do their part to promote peace?

Transcript

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0:00.0	Sibling rivalries. That's our theme today. Welcome back to the podcast. We've talked about siblings
0:10.4	on the podcast and a couple of different contexts. We addressed the prodigal son and his older brother
0:16.5	in APJ 1059. And we looked at how Jesus is our perfect elder brother in APJ 934. I love that episode.
0:25.8	The fact that Jesus is our brother. He calls us brothers. But today we get a question about
0:31.6	sibling rivalries in the home. Something we have not yet addressed on the podcast. And here's the
0:36.8	question today for you, Pastor John, who once again joined us remotely over Zoom. The question
0:42.7	is from Stephanie. Pastor John and Tony, thank you for all the work and thoughtfulness you put into
0:48.0	APJ. I have listened for years, always encouraged by hearing brothers and sisters, ask questions I would
0:54.4	never even think to ask myself. Your careful response is exemplified. First Peter 315.
1:00.9	Always to be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope
1:06.4	that you have with gentleness and respect. My question for you is about sibling rivalry. In Genesis,
1:15.2	it seems that every family dynamic was affected by jealousy or envy between siblings. Cane and
1:21.2	Abel, Jacob and Esau, Rachel and Leah, Joseph and his brothers, just to name a few.
1:28.5	What are gospel implications of this reoccurring plot theme in the Bible and seeing that many of these
1:34.3	broken relationships are the result of favoritism or passivity by parents. What lessons can we learn as
1:40.6	fathers and mothers today? Wow, what a good question. Yeah. That caused me to do some serious
1:48.9	thinking on things I haven't quite posed in that way. So let's start at the beginning. God
1:55.8	creates man, male and female and designs that by becoming one flesh in marriage, they would have
2:05.3	children who are called in their relationship to each other, brothers and sisters. So this is a
2:13.2	universally understood relationship. It's amazing, brothers and sisters. All of the world,
2:17.8	everybody knows what that is. Every culture understands what brothers and sisters are together
2:24.4	with marriage. This relationship is primal. It's really basic. Brothers and sisters ordinarily
	...

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