Sermons on Family
God is not silent on the issue of Fatherhood. God has created and designed this role for a key purpose in His plan for the family and the world. As we continue to look to the Proverbs for insight into our daily relationships, we’ll discover the essential qualities a father must have to lead their families well.
The way we drive, the clothes or jewelry we wear, or a number of other things have the potential of communicating a different message to others than what we want to convey. When we think about all the nonverbal communication that happens each day in our families, what message are we sending their way? Everything I do… everything I look at… everything in my home should be pleasing to God! My daily witness is most often done without words. What message am I promoting?
As we consider the moral and spiritual issues we face in our culture today, it is essential that we return to a biblical concept for influencing our families and children. The moral and biblical lessons we are imparting to our children and families need to be taught in those every day, teachable moments wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. To do this, we must demonstrate authentic faith in every aspect of our lives!
As we continue through this passage in Deuteronomy 6, we discover that the modern church has incorporated a great deal of secular psychology and parenting methods into the ministries of our churches. Churches today have taken on the responsibility of teaching the Bible to children and students through age-graded programs and special ministries designed for specific age groups, but the Bible is clear that it is the responsibility of parents to teach the Bible to their children. So what should parents do to teach their children?
People today are fanatics when it comes to their favorite school or sports teams. This fanaticism has been engrained in them since birth! This is the kind of commitment that we ought to have for Christ, but many parents never take the time to instill a biblical worldview in their children. God’s desire is that the Bible be implanted in the hearts of His children. He wants our basic life assumptions to find their foundation in Holy Scripture. He wants His Word to “be on your heart.”
God said that this was the most important thing in the entire Bible—love Him with all our heart, soul and might. Learning to love God teaches us how to love others! The problem is that we have a skewed understanding of what it means to love one another. The three Hebrew words used in Deuteronomy 6:5 (translated heart, soul, and might) provide a clear biblical definition of love: Love is an act of the will accompanied by emotion that leads to action on behalf of its object.
How can we achieve a family life that always brings honor to God—a family life where God has no rivals? I believe that the book of Ephesians gives us six suggestions for how to keep God as our priority in our day to day family life. They are: 1) watch our walk, 2) steward our time, 3) understand God’s will, 4) submit to God’s Spirit, 5) focus on family worship, and 6) submit to one another.
When did priority become priorities? How can multiple things be the “most important” thing? The fact is that our culture today pushes the idea of ‘priorities’ but our effectiveness is drastically limited when our priorities are multi-faceted. In this message, we try to lay aside our pre-conceived ideas about priorities in our lives and look to see what God’s priority is in Scripture. Simply put, God’s priority is for us to be conformed to the image of His Son. But as Voddie Baucham explained, “Instead of striving for godliness and multigenerational faithfulness, many Christians have settled for just getting by. Unfortunately our children are paying the price.”
Lecture 2 – Joseph’s Dysfunctional Family (Genesis 30:24 – 37:2)
It is never too late to dedicate the rest of your life and your family to the Lord.