The Home Must be Built by the Lord

Introduction

Good morning, I want you to know I am blessed to see you here. It encourages me and blesses me to see you all today. You are my family, my brothers and sisters in Christ.

And I can say I love you....

You see as family we are all important, a blessing to each other. And there are two types of family represented here today.

Natural family; grandparents, parents and children and then there is a wonderful unity of our Church family, we are all kin through our receiving of Christ as Savior and Lord.

So two types of family are represented here today ....

But I want to focus on the natural family today....

Why?

Because I think the home is the most precious of God’s creation.

The home is a pivotal part of God’s plan. Men and women marry, they have children. Parents are to train those children up in the Lord and the cycle repeats… and as people in every generation are discipled and grow in the Lord, the Lord desires to use them for his glory, for His purposes.

The home is important and Satan desires to attack it, he desires desperately to get a foot in the door so he can disrupt it, tear it apart and destroy what God is doing in the home

So what can we do?

So what can we do

You see you have to work to keep them out in the first place, but if you don’t try.. hey you will get them for sure.

Why did I use the illustration of two types of homes… the devil seeks to get a foot hold in every home. the good ones and the bad ones, the clean and

if you live your life with your guard, your spiritual guard down Satan will get into your life and your home. And ine the

How do we win this battle? Here is what the Bible says......

Let the Lord build your home.......

That is the message I want to share with you today, let the Lord build your home.

Lets take our bibles and lets go to

Psalm 127:1 ESV

1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

Do you see what the Psalmist is saying here.

Our efforts are in vain unless the Lord be at the center of all we do, most especially the home!

Let me ask you a question as we start going a little deeper in this message… Is the Lord the center, the absolute center of your home?

It’s important that He be just that… Lord of your home.

I will tell you that this is the key to success in life and relationships. It doesn’t mean everyday will be rosy, it means the house, the family can stand with Jesus

So lets examine why...

1. The Origin of the Home is the Lord Himself

Now without a doubt there are people out there that will tell you that a “Cave man” finally figured it out, decided he needed a “cave women” and this is where it all began...

Psalm 127:1 ESV

1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

They set up a cave, a little white picked fence and suddenly the home was created...

In a word … No.

ah… no.

Man did not establish the home, The origin of the home is God.

The origin of the home is God.

And isn’t wonderful that the very best things in life are God ordained.

So let me walk you through a passage about this....

… tells us that God has made man, and he placed man in a wonderful garden to tend it, care for it. To name all of creation and to walk with the Lord.

But the Lord knew something was missing, while he had a beautiful garden, he had the presence of the Lord with Him, the animals and all the rest of creation, he was missing a physical companion. He was missing a help mate, someone to establish a home with

So what to do....

God decided to make him a wife, a helpmate, a blessing!

Let me share the text of G

Genesis 2:21–24 ESV

21 So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” 24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Wow, what a wonderful gift God has made man.....

Taken from man, from the side of man, a rib and I believe with all my heart, God made her to walk alongside of Him, to share life with him, to bless him, to help him and to share a home with him.

And God established a home, He brought man and woman together… They would be physically complete and ready to build a life together. And thus the first wedding has taken place, one man and one woman and nothing else.

Now wait a second.... Did you see the order there… Wedding and then a home… that is the order God has created.

Man would now be physically complete and they would begin a home. You see God brought the first home into existence after He has performed the first wedding.

Now wait a second.... Did you see the order there… Wedding and then a home… that is the order God has created.

And listen to what God had, because a union was made, a man would leave his father and mother and hold fast or cleave to His wife..... becoming one flesh.

What is God saying there?

The word leave, the Hebrew word is a-zab and it means to leave behind.

You see there comes a time when a young man’s priorities have to change to some degree. We love our parents, they are important to us but there comes a time when he must place someone in front of mom and dad.

Please hear me, I am not saying that mom and dad are not important any more… not at all but I am saying the new wife has to be above them in priority. Scripture says - He is to leave them and hold fast to her....

The Hebrew meaning for Hold fast or cleave too is “da baq” and man this word has a rich meaning.... to fasten oneself too.... to be stuck too.

There is a good illustration of this in , were one of David’s mighty men, named Dodo and killed so many Philistines with the sword he hand grew weary and the sword was stuck in His hand, literally they had to pry his hand open to retrieve the sword.

It is with this sense of meaning that a man should hold fast to his wife and never let her go....

This union, this is the first home. God is the one who has ordained it, it is simple, God, the one who has created this world, the universe and stars, the one who created the earth and moon. The one who separated the water from the land, who brought all kinds of vegetation on the land and then animals and finally man and woman is the same God who created the first home.

But the whole point of all of this is simple, God, the one who has created this world, the universe and stars, the one who created the earth and moon. The one who separated the water from the land, who brought all kinds of vegetation on the land and then animals and finally man and woman is the same God who created the first home.

The origin of the home is not man or woman. It is with God.

He is the one who builds the home...

Here is a great question for you..... Has the Lord built your home or have you been trying to put it together, build it yourself

You home will never be what it is meant to be with Jesus doing the work.

Has He built your house?

Now lets move on to my next thought....

2. Jesus Must be Lord Over the Home...

Here is the best words you can hear me say today my friends, if you want your home to stick, to thrive, to endure, to last till death do us part… then Jesus has to be Lord over the home.

To many homes today are built on convenience, as long as you are making me happy, as long as I am having a good time I am here. Oh, but when the ride is over, so am I… Im out of here.

Listen friends love, marriage and the home.. there are not contractual relationships...

When a couple says I do… they enter into a covenant with God and with each other and they say… no matter what; I love you.

You see a couple’s love for each other has to be modeled after God’s love for humanity.

God says no matter what, I love you. That is the priority of a Lord ruled marriage.

Jesus has to be Lord over the home.

Let me walk you back to the psalmist.... , verse 1

Psalm 127:1 ESV

1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

Solomon is the author of this particular Psalm, and in his wisdom; he understands in the truest sense where the value of God’s presence in the lives of the people and their homes.

So Solomon says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain....” verse 1.

So consider what is being said.... apart from the Lord, our efforts are in vain in establishing a home.

The word “build’ “a’mai” in the Hebrew refers to the assembling of it pieces, the putting to together to establish a dwelling place.

The House, the assembling of its pieces wood and nails, concrete and paint, doors and windows… a house is truly more than all of this… but by itself, it is a structure, it is suitable for living ...

The house is empty,

But its true nature is not fulfilled until it is inhabited.

When a man and woman occupy the place, the house has it truest potential realized and with the Lord’s presence the home can endure.

Now someone might object, they might say, well I have seen people enjoy 40 or 50 maybe 60 years in a marriage , and you are correct.... But I would counter and ask, did that marriage, did that family find their fullest potential?

Now someone might object, they might say, well I have seen people enjoy 40 or 50 maybe 60 years in a marriage , and you are correct.... But I would counter and ask, did that marriage, did that family find their fullest potential?

You see with the Lord in the home.. our efforts are not in vain. Living in Christ, allowing the Lord to be the center of our home, that is when this home as the ability to reach its greatest potential.

When you read all the way throw one can discover the blessing of God presence in the home.

In our own efforts we struggle, we are anxious, we labor but never find true rest, we are anxious, afraid we will never have enough… even the blessing of children do not bring satisfaction for the couple of that home...

In contrast .... when the Lord builds the home; the family has allowed God to be Lord over the home , and their whole perspective changes..

They go from anxious toil to finding rest… there is joy in their labor and they find children as a blessing...

Understand our efforts can produce a lot of material items, things… but there is no blessing in them alone.

But we are blessed when the Lord is above all....

My friends understand we can talk about the home all we desire. But our homes can only find its true purpose, its continual blessings as Christ is allowed to be the center of that home.

When Christ is the center of the home, everything changes… our relationships, our purpose and our calling in front of the Lord.

But the key… Jesus must be the center of our homes.

And let me close with this thought....

Homes built on and established in Jesus stand.

Jesus taught a great parable in the gospel of Matthew…

Matthew 7:24–27 ESV

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

These words seem appropriate in light of all that we have faced in the last several weeks. fire and flooding, storms and even a mild earthquake here in our own state.

And what is Jesus saying in this text....

Well the home that doesn’t have a firm foundation, that home will not stand when trials come…the wind and the rain and the floods they are mere pictures that pointing to life’s problems.

Problems have a way of ripping the most loving couple, even what we think are the best homes apart… Ive seen it time and time again.

Build your home on success, money, fun, your current health or looks … build your home on temporary things … well you might as well be building that home on sand.

Your structure, your home, what you’ve worked for… well it will collapse.

Your structure, your home, what you’ve worked for… well it will collapse.

But if you establish your home in the Lord, His words and his teachings… well that house has a solid foundation and it stands in the day of trouble.

I am going to finish here with this thought but next week we will take some time talking about, examining the roles of husbands and wives in the home.

What is your home built on today....

But even those roles are only fulfilled with Jesus being our rock

It is built one one of three things..

Sand, Sand represents all your own efforts.. your own ways… its unstable, shifting, and can be carried off by life’s storms

A Mixture, a mixture is a home that is divided. It obeys what is convenient. You agree with the word of God as long as it doesn’t offend or get in your way. In truth because the foundation is a mixture of what is true and false, the foundation will soon crack. It cannot support the true weight of life.

I never will forget a wife in Illinois, sad and alone late in the season of her life she tolds the story of their life.

Rock … this is the home where Jesus is Lord.

It is built on His words and the couple, the family they will stand because Jesus is their foundation. They practice what is right according to the word of God, their attitudes and beliefs are formed by Him and not the worlds and they, this couple they are willing to be lost in Him instead of lost in the world.

He will hold them up… J

What is your home built on?

The origin of the home is God and he must be Lord over his one creation for it to survive.

Is He Lord over your home?

Pray