Elements of a Christian Home- Commitment

Introduction

So far we have covered a number of the fundamental elements involved in building a Christian home. A Christian home requires first and foremost that its members be Christians, it requires order according to God’s design, it requires Christ-like love and today we are going to see that it requires commitment.

A marriage covenant

From the very beginnings of marriage, God’s design has always been that, in marriage, two people become one.() In order for this to take place there must be commitment on the behalf of all parties. This commitment is not only to be between a husband and wife. It should also extend to the children in the home as parents commit to lead their children and children commit to honor and obey them.

There are two commitment that every member of a Christian home must make:

Commitment to Christ

From the moment that you trusted Christ, you became a member of His body. This should be the beginning of a life-long commitment to honor Him with our lives.

Jesus Christ is committed to giving each of us the tools and instruction necessary to live according to His perfect will for our lives. The only real question is whether or not we are committed to taking what we know and putting it into practice.

We have already discussed how that Christians are a vital element of a Christian home. This means that we will never have a Christian home until every member of the home is committed to Christ first.

Our highest priority should be our relationship to Christ and this should lead to a sincere desire to honor Him with our lives.

Commitment to One Another

The relationships in the home are to be committed relationships that last a lifetime.

The sad reality is that divorce statistics for those inside the church are not vastly different than those outside the church. This ought not to be so.

The relationship with a husband and wife is meant to be “until death do you part” . I want to challenge you who are married to make a decision right now to remove the word DIVORCE from your vocabulary!

The relationship between parent and child is also meant to be a lifetime commitment. My sons and daughters will always be just that to me. The relationship will change over time but yet they will still be my children and I will always be their dad!

Commitment to one another above all others (Vs. 31a)

Our most important relationship outside of our relationship with Christ is our relationship to our spouse followed by our relationship with our children.

There should be no relationship outside the home that competes with the relationships inside the home.

There is nothing wrong with maintaining a relationship with our father and mother as long as this relationship does not conflict with our relationship with our spouse and children.

There is nothing wrong with having friends, even after you have a spouse and children, as long as your relationship with your friends does not pull you away from your spouse or your children.

The moment that we allow any relationship outside the home to take precedence over the relationships inside the home, our commitment has ceased to be what it ought to be.

One of the greatest blessings that you can give to your children is to remain firmly and clearly committed to your spouse. Do not ever give your children reason to doubt that you and your spouse are going to be together for life!

Commitment to living as one unit (Vs. 31b)

Shared Vision

The Christian home should be made up of a husband and wife who are now one. This means that there are no longer his and hers in the home, everything is ours.

Many times marriages fail because a husband and wife fail to fully implement this idea practically. In a Christian home nothing should be mine, everything should be ours.

When we enter into the marriage covenant we must recognize that we are no longer our own but that now two people have been forever united.

There can no longer be two sets of goals, they must be made one. There can no longer be two sets of values, they must be made one. There can no longer be two sets of priorities, they must be made one!

One area that often causes significant conflict is the finances.In marriage, whatever money is brought into the home should become ours and not be kept back as his or hers. It is ok to budget amounts for each spouse to spend but it should always be mutually agreed upon and then drawn from the whole.

If there is to be unity in a Christian home there must be a sharing of goals and aspirations in the home.

Commitment to meet one another’s needs (Vs. 33)

There must certainly be a commitment to meet one another’s physical needs, but the most important needs are not the physical.

- husband please wife and wife please husband

Husbands, your wife needs to be loved and you should be committed to loving her.

Husband- I told you I loved you on our wedding day- isn’t that enough.

Never let there be a moment when your wife would doubt your undying love for her. This does not mean big daring gestures but rather small meaningful gestures every day.

Wives your husband yearns for respect and you should be committed to showing him respect.

Wife who publicly scolds or shames her husband-

Wives do not let there be a moment that your husband wonders if you truly respect him.

Parents your children need love and acceptance as well as discipline and correction and you must not leave it to the school or the church to provide these things.

Children your parents need your respect and obedience and you need to be committed to honoring and obeying them each day!