Sermon Tone Analysis

*Commtting** Familiy - Family Foundations*

Deuteronomy 6:4-6:13 (NIV, NIRV, TNIV, KJV)

 

 

OPEN: Author and speaker Zig Ziggler loved golf and once took his son with him out to the golf course.

His son was still relatively new to the game, so Zig was very impressed by his son’s performance on one of the par 4 holes.

At the tee, the boy lifted the ball straight and true down the fairway.

A second shot got him onto the green within 14 feet of the cup.

Wanting his son to succeed, he went to great trouble in sighting the shot for him and gauging the lie of putt and then told his son just how he ought to play it.

His son stepped up to the ball and putted the ball perfectly into the cup just as his father had taught him.

His first birdie.

Then it was Zig’s turn.

He also had made the green in 2 shots but his putt was far easier.

For a moment he considered flubbing the shot so that he would not overshadow his son’s achievement, but then he decided against it because it would go against everything he had taught his son about doing his best.

He sank the putt easily and also birdied the hole.

As they were walking away to the next tee, Zig casually asked his son "Well, son, were you rooting for me on that last shot."

"Dad," the boy replied, "I always root for you."

APPLY: I always root for you… that is the kind of commitment you find in the best families.

It’s a commitment that always seeks the best for our spouses, children and parents.

It is always seeking a way that they can succeed.

Always wanting them to get ahead and win at life.

And that’s the kind of commitment God wants His people’s families to have for each other.

And so, in Deuteronomy 6, God says to Israel: If you want your families to succeed in life… if you’re truly committed to your household – then here’s what you have to do: LOOK THERE WITH ME starting with verse 5

 

“Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.

Impress them on your children.

Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.

When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you— a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant— then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Fear the LORD your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name.”

This is the formula for success: put God first in your family.

Put God 1st in what you teach your children

Put God 1st in how you live your life

 

I.

Now, as I prepared for today’s sermon, I looked up every reference I could find that used the words “commit”, “committed”, or “commitment” and I was surprised at what I DID’T find

 

I never found the Bible teaching that we should put our family first!

In fact Jesus Himself taught us that we dare not do that.

In Matthew 10:37 Jesus said: "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me”

 

But, now wait a minute…

I thought the church would be a great place to raise my children

I thought it would be a great place to strengthen my family

I thought if I went to church, I’d have a stronger marriage

 

Well, yes you will… but not if your commitment first is to your family.

You will have the kind of family you want only if your commitment comes to God first.

In fact, you have a promise to that effect:

“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”

(Proverbs 16:3)

 

Why would that be?

Well… this is how it works:

God knows that WHO I’m committed to will determine WHO sets the rules (repeat).

1.

If I’m committed to my family first… then if they’re not happy, then I won’t obey God

ILLUS: For example, I know of one family where little Johnny couldn’t do anything wrong.

And being a precocious little boy, little Johnny would periodically misbehave in Sunday School.

One day when he was corrected for behaving badly in Sunday School one day, the parents didn’t talk to the Sunday School teacher to find out what had happened (she had acted properly, by the way) … they simply didn’t bring him back to church.

Why?

Because little Johnny is their priority… not God.

They ended up divorcing themselves from God because little Johnny wasn’t happy.

2.

If I’m committed to my family first… then I’ll do what I (rather than God) THINK is right

ILLUS: I once met a man who told me of the great movies he and his grade school sons had watched together.

Now, this man wasn’t a Christian, but I was appalled at what he allowed into his house.

I knew these movies were PG-13 fare I wouldn’t watch if it were just me at home.

Granted, I’d never seen these movies, but from the advertising and the nature of the actors in those movies, I knew they displayed disrespect for authority and were loaded with profanity.

I tried to be tactful (because I was trying to win this man to Christ) and I noted that I would be worried about bringing that kind of movie – so filled with cursing - into my house with my two kids.

He scoffed and replied: “They’re going to hear that kind of language eventually, they may as well hear it here in my house with me.”

To him this made sense.

These were his boys and he wanted to share the movies he liked to watch with them.

AND because he wasn’t a Christian - God standards were not a priority to him.

It is a firm principle of Christian life if you and I put our families first… then sooner or later, God will come 2nd

 

But when I put God 1st then my family will benefit BECAUSE THEN God will then set the rules on how I should treat my family.

In 1 Peter 3:7 tells us Husbands to “be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.”

What God is saying is that if we husbands mistreat our wives – He won’t listen to us.

He won’t hear our prayers.

In Ephesians 5:33 Husbands are told we “must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

Wives are commanded by God to respect their husbands.

To not put them down or belittle them.

Then in Ephesians 6:1-3 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

"Honor your father and mother"— which is the first commandment with a promise— "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."

Now, this isn’t the same kind of thinking that Bill Cosby displayed when he threatened his kids: “I brought you into this world and I can take you out!”

This is God telling our kids that if they want to survive in this world, they need to learn to honor their parents.

If they don’t, they’ll suffer and live lives that won’t be what they’d hoped for.

And Fathers are told, “do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”

Ephesians 6:4

 

Notice… all these are commands from the Lord.

We MAY NOT ALWAYS WANT to do these things, but even if we don’t want to do them - if God is our 1st priority~/ if we’re committed to pleasing God above all else in life - then we’ll follow them because this is what God wants us to.

You see… if I’m totally committed to God, then I understand that once I became a Christian I signed my entire life over to Him.

I don’t own anything.

I don’t own my home, my car, even the clothes on my back.

AND, I don’t own my wife or husband or my children.

They all belong to the Lord.

And God tells me that He thus hold me accountable for the things that are now His.

He holds me accountable for how I treat my wife or discipline my kids.

They are His, not mine.

II.

Now… that’s only PART of the idea of building our families on the foundation of commitment

 

Why is that only ONE part?

Because what I’ve just discussed is MY part of this commitment thing.

We haven’t yet talked about GOD’S part

 

God says in Psalms 37:5-6: “Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and HE WILL DO THIS: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.”

In other words: You put God first… God will put you first

 

Now, there are people who believe the pagan concept of “God helps those who help themselves”

This is a false doctrine.