The Call to the Home
The Call To The Home
Dr. J. Mike Minnix, Editor, www.pastorlife.com
Introduction
Deuteronomy 6:1-12
A young girl got her first computer and decided to write an email to a friend. She composed the email with slow finger movements, and sent it through the internet. In one sentence she meant to type, "We have a lot of fun at our hous, because we do a lot of singing." She mistyped a word and it read, "We have a lot of fun at our house, because we do a lot of sinning."
There are many homes filled with a lot of sinning today, but its not producing much fun. Misery and sorrow follows sin as darkness follows day.
Why are so many of our homes falling apart? Why is there so much abuse in the home? The answer lies in understanding that we were created for fellowship with God but in many cases we have abandoned Him. We cannot expect our homes to be blessed if we retreat from the Blesser!
God calls the family to Himself, for He is the only hope for the home. We need his direction and His strength in order to make our family life what God intended it to be.
One little girl was at a homeless shelter with her family and was told by a worker, "I am sorry you don't have a home." The little girl had been taught well by her down-and-out father, and she replied, "Oh, I have a home all alright, I just don't have a house to put it in."
There are some people living in big houses but they don't have a home. There are others with skimpy houses, or no house at all, but they have a home. We must come to God to learn the nature and value of a real HOME.
In Deuteronomy 6 we discover Moses addressing the people in a farewell message. The subject of his message centers on the home and family. God gave Moses a word to share and it deals with calling the homes of Israel to draw up close to their Lord. Let's look at God's call to the home today, and let's listen very carefully, for it could be that we will hear Him calling our homes closer to the Creator and Lord of the home today.
You will note five truths for a godly home life which God gave to Moses and told him to share with families.
I. Called to Listen to the Lord
Dueteronomy 6:1-4 ...
“Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one!"
You must not miss the word, "Hear." God calls on us to listen to the correct voice speaking to the home and family. The world is filled with Satanic clatter and secular directions for the home. We must tune that out and tune in to God and His Word.
Harvard astronomers have dialed outer space and are listening for an answer. Their ear, an 85 feet in diameter receiving dish located near Boston, is listneing. According to a column in USA Today, this endeavor is the most extensive search ever conducted for intelligent life in outer space. The project is using a sophisticated, computerized radio receiver that allows the scientist to listen to and analyze 128,000 frequencies at once, 24 hours a day, for 4 years. They have received nothing of significance. Friend, you can open the tiny ear of your heart and hear from outer space. God will speak to us, if you and I will listen.
Hearing can be a real problem. Three retired men were talking one day and each of them was suffering some hearing loss. One said, "Windy, ain't it?" The second man said, "No, it's Thursday." The third man said, "Yeh, I'm thirsty, lets get a Coke."
It can be embarrassing to hear things incorrectly from our fellow man, but it is downright dangerous for us to hear things incorrectly from the Lord. Tuning the ears of our heart to the Lord and is Word is crucial. There is no hearing aid that can help with this matter. I heard the other day of man who got a new hearing aid. He was telling a friend about it. He said that it was the lastest thing and that he could hear a bird singing a hundred yards away, or a tinkling bell across the street. His friend asked, "What kind is it?" The proud owner of the hearing aid looked at his watch and replied, "Five-fifteen." Apparently the hearing aid was not quite as effective as the buyer thought it was.
You need more than a hearing aid to receive directions from God for your life. What do you need?
A. A Faith that creates a Personal Relationship - "your God" - The Sovereignity of God
Note that Moses addresses the people as trusting in God from a personal experience. He tells them to listen to "your" God. You can't listen to God if you don't know His voice. The first thing that must happen is for the family, one by one, to come to faith in a personal Lord and Savior.
B. A Faith that clings to a Promised Reward - "promised you" - The Success from God
If we are really listening to God, we will have a the secure promise of His presence and blessing upon our home and families. God does not break His promises. Learning the promises of God means listening to and learning His Word - the Bible. It also means opening your heart to the fullness of God's presence, in theperson of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised His followers that the Holy Spirit would guide them into all truth. If only we will listen, learn and let Him lead, we can be and do all that is right for our home life.
Now, note that we are ...
II. Called to Love the Lord
Deuteronomy 6:5-6 ...
"5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart."
Nothing is so defeating in the Christian life as a lukewarm heart toward the Lord. Jesus said that He would spew out of His mouth the lukewarm believer and lukewarm church (Revelation 3:14-22). Now that is some strong language. Be assured that heaven is calling the parents and adults in a home to have a blazing love for God.
A. You Must Love Him Passionately - "all" the heart
If our hearts grow cold, so will our dedicated living. The heart in the home must first belong to the Savior, then the right kind of love will exist in the family.
B. You Must Love Him Personally - "all" the soul
The Soul is the seat of your own individual self. It is you - personally. I must love God in my "self" - in my soul - regardless of what the world says or how others view me. When each family member loves God personally, it unifies the family in the Lord.
C. You Must Love Him Practically - "all" the strength
Loving God is a practical thing, not just a spiritual or theoretical affection. This means to our love for Him into action in everyday life. It takes strength - spiritually, physically, emotionally - to serve the Lord properly. We must put our "all" into it.
Husband, wife, mom, dad, there is no substitute for loving God. Be assured of this, your children can see through you like a window pane. If you are not sincere in your love for Christ, they konw it.
Now, let's consider being ...
III. Called to Learn from the Lord
Deuteronomy 6:7 ...
"You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up."
A. The Impression
The word "teach" in our text comes from the Hebrew idea meaning "to impress" - which means to cut, or imbed the truth. In other words, you must impress deeply into your children the truth of God.
The school is not going to impress you children with divine truth. To begin with, in most schools today teaching anything about the Christian faith is illegal. Even if your teacher was able to impress her Christian faith on your child, you child is only in school about 1,500 to 1,600 hours a year. That is less than 1/4 the time they are at home or should be at home with you.
The church cannot do all the work of sharing God's truth with your children. Your children are at church approximately 300 hours a year, and that is if they come regularly to Sunday School, morning worship and evening worship, and some other mid-week activities. But your children are at home about 3,000 hours a year - ten times the amount of time they are possibly able to be at church. God gives YOU the responsibility to impress upon your children the nature of faith, the truth of the Bible and the importance of both.
B. The Instruction
We are to teach our children God's ways and words. Just how well are we doing? In the book entitled, 'Right From Wrong,' we discover that youth today, in and outside the church, do not accept objective standards of truth. That is, they do not believe that certain things are right and others things are wrong. Those who do not accept objective truth are:
26% more likely to lie to a parent.
48% more likely to cheat on a test.
3 times more likely to take illegal drugs.
2 times more likely to get drunk.
2 times more likely to be angry with life and lack purpose.
And these stats are from a few years ago, they are certainly worse now.
C. The Interaction
You are to interact with your children - that means to spend time with them - talk to them. This is the way to teach them. A grade school teacher held a contest. She asked her students to describe what they liked best about their fathers. The winning entry read, "I have so much fun with my father that I wish I had known him sooner." Funny, but nice.
A psychologist studied fathers of one-year-old children to discover how much time they spent with their children. The estimates ranged from 15 to 20 minutes a day. Then he attached a microphone to the fathers and discovered that face-to-face time was actually 37 seconds a day in 2.7 encounters of 10 to 15 seconds each. The deepest regret of men in their 50s is that they did not spend enough time with their children when they were little.
Charles Adams, the son of President John Adams, wrote in his diary one day: "Went fishing with my son today ‑ a day wasted." The boy, however, had a different perspective of that day. The entry in his diary for that date read: "Went fishing with my father ‑ the most wonderful day of my life." [Today's Better Life, Sum 1992.]
Fourthly, consider with me being ...
IV. Called to Live for the Lord
Deuteronomy 6:8-9 ...
"You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates."
Now, for the sake of time I'm going to give you three important thoughts here, but I'm not going to expand upon them. Please get these, write them down and think about them.
A. To Live for the Lord Through MY HANDS - what I do
B. To Live for the Lord Through MY HEAD - what I think
C. To Live for the Lord Through My HOME - how I interact
I could speak on those three things in 3 separate sermons but time will not permit; however, everyone of us can think through how we're dong in living for the Lord in those areas.
Psalms 101:2 ...
" I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
I will be careful to lead a blameless life‑‑ when will you come
to me? I will walk in my house with blameless heart."
What a different world it would be if we all did exactly that - walked in our house with a perfect heart.
Lastly, we are ...
V. Called to Lean upon the Lord
Deuteronomy 6:10-12 ...
10 “So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
A. Lean on the Lord so you do not Forget the GOODNESS of God in your Success
B. Learn from the Lord so you do not Forget the GRACE of God in your Salvation
Conclusion
Parents, let us come today and renew our commitment to be the Christian examples that we are called upon to be. Some teens here today need to renew your commitment to Christ in your life at home and school. You are responsible to God in your family just as your parents are. Today we can ask God to forgive us for our failures in the home and we can ask the Lord to make our faith real at the most personal place possible - in our hearts and in our homes.