Sermon Series: The Strong Family­Part 1--5/14/2000--Lord of Life
Title: "A Godly Home--An Endangered Species?"
Text: Deuteronomy 6: 1-24
Introduction: Illus.: Family Circle or Family Circus??

Theme: The blessing of a Christ-filled home is one which cannot be taken for granted. Yet, God's promise and blessing are always present to assist us in strengthening it.

Biblical Principles to Establish a Godly Home

Principle 1: Modeling a "do as I do rather than a do as I say faith value"

Read Deuteronomy 6: 1-5

1. Obedience which listens and guards God's application for your own life before you apply it to someone else
2. Obedience which comes from grace motivation rather than fear motivation
• Avoiding quick fix killers (For the letter of the law kills but the Spirit gives life." 2 Cor 3:6)
• ILLUS.: RENT-A-FAMILY
• "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.
• God promises us success and enjoyment as a family if we walk in the "spirit" of the Law (For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Gal5:14)

Principle 2: Consciously and consistently depositing God's truth for the future

Read Deuteronomy 6: 6-9

1. That involves a PERSONAL RESPECT for God's speaking to your own life and situation

• ­ILLUS.: WALKING THE TALK
• ­Moses says commands are to be "upon the parents' hearts."--don't justify behavior/attitude/action which would condemn in children or spouse

1. That involves a PASSIONATE AND PERSISTENT RETELLING of Divine truth to the next generation
1. ­Deliberate and intentional in seeking teachable moments--don't be afraid to impart the Truth
2. ­ILLUS.: FAMILY DEVOTION
3. ­Keeping our eyes open for the open door (Pray at the same time for us as well, that God may open up to us a door for the word. Col 4: 3)

Principle 3: Living with a tender, humble heart of gratitude for God's provision

Read Deuteronomy 6: 10-15

1. Guard against the intoxication of affluence/things

1. ­When all is going well with our family is when we are on the edge and may let God slip off the edge
2. ­Tell those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which will soon be gone. But their trust should be in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.1Ti6:17
3. ­God's doesn't say "don't live or enjoy" but `watch out.'"

1. Remember not to forget who is the Source and Provider of your life
• ­Reminding ourselves and our family members whose it is and whose we are and who gets the credit/thanks
• ­It starts at the cross (God who did not spare His own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how will He not also with Jesus freely give us all things? Romans 8:32)

Principle 4: Frequently reminding the members of your household of God's faithfulness and grace

Read Deuteronomy 6: 20-24

1. Acknowledging what we have been saved from and rejoicing in what we have been saved for
2. Framing our Christian faith walk in terms of what we have and have to offer rather than in what we might lose and must protect
1. ­The difference between a Gospel-based home vs. a Law-driven home

1. ­Give your family members something to believe in rather than something that they will run from

­ILLUS.: THE VALUE OF A GOOD EXAMPLE

Family Circle or Family Circus

A woman was at home doing some cleaning when the telephone rang. In going to answer it, she tripped on a scatter rug and, grabbing for something to hold onto, seized the telephone table. It fell over with a crash, jarring receiver off the hook. As it fell, it hit the family dog, who leaped up, howling and barking. The woman's three-year-old son, startled by this noise, broke into loud screams. The woman mumbled some colorful words. She finally managed to pick up the receiver and lift it to her ear, just in time to hear her husband's voice on the other end say, "Nobody's said hello yet, but I'm positive I have the right number."

Rent-a-Family

It started with Rent-A-Wife, a small Petaluma, California, company created by Karen Donovan to help clients decorate their homes, balance checkbooks, run errands, etc. Donovan, who launched her business through a small ad in the local newspaper, is already thinking big after four months of operation. She wants to hire her father to initiate Rent-A-Husband and her two teens to start Rent-A-Family. "We can do what any family does," the newfangled entrepreneur joked. "We can come over and eat all the food, turn on all the lights, put handprints on the walls, take showers and leave the towels on the floor. When clients are finished with Rent-A-Family, they'll have to call Rent-A-Wife. (Campus Life, Oct, 1980 )

Walking the Talk

A study once disclosed that if both Mom and Dad attend church regularly, 72% of their children remain faithful. If only Dad, 55% remain faithful. If only Mom, 15%. If neither attended regularly, only 6% remain faithful. The statistics speak for themselves--the example of parents and adults is more important than all the efforts of the church and Sunday School. Warren Mueller in Homemade, May, 1990

Family Devotion

Dinner was finished and the dishes pushed aside when Joe brought his Bible from under his chair. He glanced at his wife, Susan, with a look and sigh that meant, Let's try again. The children around the table groaned a concert of "Oh, no" followed by a solo, "Can we hurry, Dad? I just remembered I have to feed the goldfish." "Now listen, everybody," Joe said. "I'm going to read about Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem.". . ."Now," he said when he had finished, "let's have some questions. Peter, what did the crowds shout when they saw Jesus riding by?" Peter, whose mind had no doubt been concentrating on his starving fish, looked blank and finally said, "Dunno, Dad." Eight-year-old Danny just couldn't remember either. In an attempt to receive some response, Joe turned to Alisa and asked, "Honey, what did Jesus ride on when he went to Jerusalem?" Alisa puckered her little mouth in concentration and finally said tentatively, "On a cloud?" Mary White, Successful Family Devotions.(Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress, 1981), p. 9.

The Value of a Good Example

When Robert Ingersoll, the notorious skeptic, was in his heyday, two college students went to hear him lecture. As they walked down the street after the Lecture, one said to the other, "Well, I guess he knocked the props out from under Christianity, didn't the?" The other said, "No, I don't think he did. Ingersoll did not explain my mother's life, and until he can explain my mother's life I will stand by my mother's God."