THE GOSPEL-CENTERED HOME

What is it?

Is it having well-behaved children who obey and don’t melt down in public places?

Is it ensuring the family is at church every Sunday morning and Wednesday night?

Is it having pictures on the wall with scriptural references?

Is it making sure a prayer is said before chow time?

Does it really matter? Aren’t there other, more crucial things we could be focusing on?

If you had to give your testimony, where would you start? “I grew up in a ________.” Fill in the blank. A broken home. A home without a dad. A home where there were constant arguments, infidelity, substance abuse, …

9 times out of 10, your life story starts with the environment you grew up in, right? So, I ask again, does tonight’s topic matter? You know what I’m going to say, right?

The biblical view of family is under attack and being redefined by our culture. If this is where our story starts, then the gospel centered home is crucial.

I’m up here because I’ve seen my shortcomings in this area over the years

This may seem like a parenting class, but tonight’s message is for everyone

Deuteronomy 6

Deuteronomy 6:1–9 CSB

“This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess. Do this so that you may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life by keeping all his statutes and commands I am giving you, your son, and your grandson, and so that you may have a long life. Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.

Israel as just finished their 40 year tour through the wilderness and are now at the threshold of the Promised Land. They are literally looking at it.

Moses has just reiterated the 10 commandments in the previous chapter.

Moses is charging the people of Israel to:

to renew the covenant made at Sinai to make a fresh commitment to the Lord.

urged the people to take possession, to realize that this was their inheritance from the Lord

to remember what God had already done for them,

to obey Him

fear Him

love Him, and

hold fast to Him

They are to reflect Him in everything

The Israelites have been steeped in polytheistic cultures for generations: roots in Canaan, Egypt, Canaanite territory in the wilderness. They have been surrounded by people worshipping many different gods.

FOUNDATIONS

Worldview

Culture

WORLDVIEW

A worldview is the lens in which we view the world. It’s the framework in which discern what reality and truth really are.

Our culture has a worldview, mainly:

A ME culture

Science disproving faith

Divorce is fine

Premarital Sex is fine

Homosexuality is acceptable

Abortion is normal

How to eat, dress, act, be independent, tolerant, etc… is what really matters

Our culture says these pass the test of moral acceptability.

For the Christian, it is based on what GOD SAYS. He has given his objective standard to stand on.

When you untether truth from an objective source, then literally anything goes.

We live in a Post-Modern world that defines truth to be whatever seems good

ILLUSTRATION: OUR CULTURE UNDERSTANDS THIS. Inside Out –mix the blocks of Facts & Opinions.

MAKE NO MISTAKE, a worldview will be set.

Notice how Moses addressed the adults before he addressed how to teach the kids. This is your house. The spotlight is on you. You must provide it.

THE SHEMA

If worldview is a foundation, then you want it to be solid.

How do we ensure this foundation is set firm in our own home? Look at what Moses advised for his people:

The Shema

Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One

Purpose- to set God’s singularity and rulership before them every morning and evening

Again, the Israelites have been steeped in polytheistic cultures for generations.

Moses knew that devotion to their one true God is the only way to life.

One of the greatest threat to Israel’s future was dividing their allegiance between many gods.

The reciting of the Shema reminds us of our personal relationship with God and His rule. Remember & reflect.

God is creator. It’s easy to read about God’s creative power in the context of the OT, but do you believe the same when you look out your window at the mountains? Is God just as real in the world that you live and interact in?

God is sovereign. Do you believe he is working out all things according to his good purposes like it says in Ephesians? Do you believe that of your own life?

God is Righteous, just, abounding in steadfast love, faithful, merciful, and gracious. Do you believe that God has the same attitude toward you? Do you receive that truth even when you completely mess things up?

This is what reciting the Shema was suppose to do. It was a re-centering of your mind to the central truths of who God is.

Motivations

Love God holistically, not partially.

The command here is to love God with the entirety of your being. With your ALL of your heart, soul, and strength.

There should no part of your life that is void of a love for God, or a half-hearted love.

We give it all to God.

Put it in the heart, b/c that is where our desires are

That is a heavy command. I know I certainly don’t reflect this type of love. That is why we need to stop periodically and take inventory of our lives …

This can be seen pretty clearly in David’s psalm: 119. The whole thing is a declaration for his love and admiration for God’s law. To him, it was life.

Warning Against False Wisdom

Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, rather than Christ.

Colossians 2:8

In him [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

- Colossians 2:3

Paul pointed this out very clearly in his letter to the Colossians.

Paul warns about the false truths of the worked around them.

He makes the claim that Christ is standard for truth and knowledge.

Moses and Paul set the standard.

ILLUSTRATION: LEVEL is the objective standard for if a wall is straight up and down or not.

What standard have you set? It will be the basis of your and your kids’ worldview.

I have 3 kids the age of 10 and under, so I can readily control who they hang out with on the weekends or talk to on the phone, which is practically never because they won’t own a cell phone until they can pay for the service. But they still go to public school and have friends there that I have never met. They read books that I can’t keep away.

CULTURE

Once Moses sets worldview, only then does he move on to instructing children.

Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.

Look at the way he explains this. This was meant to be all-encompassing:

In the home / outside of the home

Sitting / Standing

Lying down / Upright

Visible to self / Visible to others

ILLUSTRATION: Lazy culture set by working with remodeler in high school.

Moses sets a standard for the culture parents are to provide for their kids. We should to.

If you haven’t already, you need to start thinking about what Culture will you set in your house.

- If a parent, do your kids see you reading the Bible and/or praying alone?

- How well do your words line up with your actions? (command vs lead by example)

- Do you have answers to the spiritual questions your kids ask?

- Is there an atmosphere where they can ask these types of questions?

- Is Christ and His word treasured above sports, movies, work, etc…?

- How transparent are you with your weaknesses to people in your home?

- If I asked one of your kids how they learn about God at their house, what do you think they would tell me?

Now we are getting to where the rubber meets the road. It’s nice to be aware of this, but how do we actually get this done? That is where we will spend the rest of the evening.

Hidden Truths

To start, I want to ask you a question. What do each of these logos have in common?

Amazon

Tostitos

Toblerone

FedEx

Baskin Robins

Each have a hidden message.

Amazon has the arrow pointing from A to Z, signifying they have everything.

The Toblerone bear is there because the bear is featured on the coat of arms where the company was started – Bern, Switzerland - near Matterhorn Mountain, known as the City of Bears.

Tostitos has 2 people dipping a chip in dip.

What else do you see?

Now, you won’t ever be able to look at these logos again without seeing it, and that is my prayer this evening.

My prayer for all of us is that, like the hidden messages in the logos, we will begin to see all the different discipleship-opportunities hidden out in our daily lives in which we can use teach our kids about God and say in His Word.

We will set a culture of looking for all the little GOD MOMENTS

PRACTICAL METHODS

Our foundations have been set.

Now, we can build our gospel centered home with God Moments.

This is a list of suggestions, not an exhaustive list of all that could be.

Kelly and I are not perfect in this and we don’t do them all. They are just a few ideas to get you going.

HOME MISSION STATEMENT

A good starting to craft a statement packed with spiritual truths that defines what your activity is for.

In essence, it is a filter for your activities. It is your bid, fat target.

Is what I am doing right now helping me achieving this goal?

Core convictions: choices about who you are and what you stand for.

A tool to identify spiritual truths in a compact statement that acts as a guardrails for the heart

A mission statement can also be reflective of the family member’s individual strengths and gifts by describing how to use their talents for God’s glory.

MEMORIZATION

Psalm 119:11 – I have hidden your word in my heart so I may not sin against you.

We do it at the dinner table.

Why is this important? Because you can’t use what you don’t have.

Life is going to get hard, and you need to have scripture in your mind, ready to use.

It’s the SWORD of the Spirit for a reason. ILLUSTRATION- defense against attack. Kelly had a headache, effecting memory, used scripture to fight fear

This can be done in a bunch of different ways.

Kids love to sing. Some post cards around the house. Some have a box for repetition.

Find what works for you

FAMILY DEVOTIONS

Proverbs 22:6: Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

“They that pray in the family do well; they that pray and read the scriptures do better; but they that pray, read, and sing do the best of all.”

- Matthew Henry

The dinner table is a great place for devotions. Why? Because you have a captive audience.

Eliminate distractions and make it a special time of conversation.

Find what works for you and try to make it more than reading.

Read scripture, a devotional book, or a book about a missionary

Sing a hymn or song

Pray together

10-15 minutes is all it takes and will go a long way in instilling good and godly habits in you and your kids.

Find what works for you. Kelly loves to sing. I’m more of a reader and storyteller

FORMATIVE INSTRUCTION

Formative instruction is when you tie a life experience to biblical truth.

Most of the time this is for parents and is when you need to discipline.

This is a time where the metaphor of sowing and reaping is quite valuable.

Every child understands that if they plant a tomato seed, they will reap tomatoes.

What is planted today will be harvested tomorrow. Tomorrow may be measured by moments or years, but it will come.

Very simple. Very powerful.

SETTING EXPECTATIONS

If WORLDVIEW and CULTURE are our foundations, then living in community is the rebar that fortifies.

COMMUNITY: According to our text, the primary job of discipleship is with the parents in conjunction with the community (which, for us, is the church).

ILLUSTRATION: Hearts are like rivers that needs 2 banks to direct its path. The parents and the Church.

God puts a premium on community. So should we.

Cultural gods: Our culture idolizes things of this world: money, power, career, athleticism, intellect, stuff, or themselves.

Jan 15th- the kickoff to Chapel after the holiday break, I was tempted to not go because of my kids play practice. But if I had, what type of message would that have been sending?

WORSHIP: Humans were designed to follow and worship something. We just don’t want it to be God.

Our job for ourselves and our kids is to understand the pre-disposition toward worship and move to worshiping God and not material things.

Show this priority by inviting others into your home to experience God moments part of that culture?

Let others in to see how God is magnified through fellowship AND how we are made more complete in it.

CONCLUSION

DEFINITION: A Gospel-Centered Home is a home rooted in scripture where God’s glory, character, and relationship are magnified in all aspects of life.

It takes intentional work

You, as the leader of the home, must first look inward to your own faith and practice

You must enforce a God-centered worldview

You must set the culture for God Moments

Once the foundations are set, focus on to the practicals

One last word and I’m done.

If you are nodding your head, able to see how you have done this well, PRAISE GOD.

But, I bet many here feel convicted.

Maybe you haven’t given any of this a passing thought.

Maybe you feel as though you have already botched it.

Maybe you are the cause of division in your home, b/c your life up until now has been anything but spiritual.

Maybe your relationships at home are broken and change seems impossible.

Proverbs 14:1 says that The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down. Scripture tell us that we can spend years building our home, only to tear it down in a moment with poor decisions.

The beauty of the gospel is that God uses broken people to display his glory.

Make the decision to commit to a change and model it. Choose 1 thing to act on then leave the results to God.

God’s will for your life begins today. It’s never too late to re-center your home toward God.

As adult, you are adding to your testimony. If you have kids, they are begging theirs right now.

How are they going to start their story?