Oakbrook Evangelical Free Church

Introduction:

1.         Four issues that form the background of our text.

~ Obedience as a natural overflow of love and reverence for God. Standing in reverence of a Holy God, Deut 4:10-11

“Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.’”And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom.”

~ How to transmit God’s truth from one generation to another

~ Living in hostile territory without forgetting God, 6:14, 18-19

The young men in Lord of the Rings

Living is Israel today.

Matthew 24:12-13  “And because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved.”

~ Shining as a light in a dark world: Deut 4:6-8

“Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”

I’m simply entitling this series:

Guidelines for the Home:

“How to Survive In a Spiritually Hostile Environment”

I.          Call for Obedience, 6:1-2

Addressed to Israel as a nation.

Parents in particular and

especially fathers and grandfathers bec/ of their role in spiritual leadership

Active leadership

Proverbs 1:8a. - Father’s spiritual leadership  //6:20

Proverbs 1:8b - Mother’s spiritual leadership

“co-regents” “co-instructors”

Proverbs 4:1-4

Ephesians 6:4  “And, fathers, do not provoke (incite) your children to anger; but (on the contrary - inspire them) bring them up in the discipline (paideia = formation of the whole person which involved discipled training = making bed, doing chores, etc.) and instruction (spiritual teaching)  of the Lord.”

Father’s rightly limit a child’s activities and behavior.

But control needs to have the limits of wisdom so that a father

gradually releases limits and links responsibilities with

freedoms.

Children are to learn to obey, 6:1-3.  But children here are addressed directly and are given the commend to obey God without fathers forcing them to do so.

Heavy responsibility of the father.

“Children adopt the heart of their mother but the lifestyle of their father.”

Here the heavy responsibility on the father is the personal and spiritual development of his children.

2 Timothy 2:8  “I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.”

To survive in hostile territory we need real Men

Give spiritual leadership to their wives and children

The only way to be manly is to be godly.

There is a desire in most men to be “real men”

 

Men’s natural tendency to be silent

~ Adam, “She gave it also to her husband with her and he ate”

~ Abraham, 16:2  “He listened the voice of Sarah”

~ Lot, stayed in Sodom and Gomorrah and was silent about evil around

Offered his daughters to protect God’s messengers (not strength)

Wife looks back.  Why?  Wanted to live there.  Who was really

running the family?  2 Peter 2:8  “Lot was tormented in his

soul.”  Why didn’t he leave?  Bec/ wife didn’t want to.

Adam’s silence destroyed his relationship w/ God and his wife.

Abraham’s silence resulted in the Arab / Israeli conflict

Lot’s silence ultimately resulted in his wife’s death

~ Eli

1 Samuel 2:22-31  “Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting.  And he said to them, “Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people?  “No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the LORD’S people circulating.  “If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the LORD desired to put them to death.

Now the boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor both with the LORD and with men. Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house?  ‘And did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My priests, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before Me; and did I not give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel?

                ‘Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?’

“Therefore the LORD God of Israel declares, ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever’; but now the LORD declares, ‘Far be it from Me– for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed.  ‘Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father’s house so that there will not be an old man in your house.

And in each of these situations, when the man was silent, the women stepped in, took control and led the way.

In creation, God spoke into the darkness, chaos and disorder and brought life and order.

Man was created in the image of God to do the same.

But man’s tendency is to avoid the chaos and to be silent.

When he does this he only creates more chaos and disorder

and destroys more relationships!

 

II.        Foundation for Obedience - What we Teach 6:3-4

A.        Hearing God

The most important thing we men can do for our families is to make hearing the Word of God one of the highest priorities in your life and in the lives of you wife and children.

A little girl, with shining eyes and little face aglow, said, “Daddy, it is almost time for Sunday school. Let’s go! They teach us there of Jesus’ love, and how He died that we might all have everlasting life by trusting in Him!”

“Oh, no,” said Daddy, “not today, I have worked so hard all the week, I am going to the woods and to the creek. There I can relax and rest. I must have one day to rest, and fishing is fine, they say. So run along. Don’t bother me. We’ll go to church some other day!”

Months and years have passed, but Daddy hears that plea no more: “Let’s go to Sunday school!”

Those childish years are over and that Daddy is growing old, when life is almost through, he finds time to go to church. But what does daughter do? She says, “Oh, Daddy, not today. I stayed up almost all last night, and I’ve got to get some sleep!” (Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, #1628, Assurance Publishers)

Hebrews 3:7-8, 12-13  “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS …Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God.  But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

James 1:21-25  “Therefore putting aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.”

B.        Knowing God, 6:4

What do we teach? - a revelation from God.   Reveals Himself to us

We teach about God and our relationship with him.

Proverbs 9:10

Psalm 111:10

Endless cycle of meaninglessness without injecting meaning and purpose.  Where do we get that?  Only from an outside reference point.

“The LORD is our God”

Yehweh - uniqueness of God

He is their God, no one and nothing else.

Existence of God.  But more than this.

The Lord is one Lord.

Hebrew “Elohim” = a compound unity = 3 units in one God.

At the center of the universe is a single intelligent being.

ILL: Universe = one place with the same laws that operate throughout.

An intelligent being sits at the heart of it all.

Understanding life begins with God.

He defines and reveals reality.

He clears up our confusion.

He explains what is true and what isn’t.

Proverbs 9:10  “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Luke 24:25f   Disciples in road to Emmaus.

And He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!  “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”

And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures…And their eyes were opened and they recognized Him; and He vanished from their sight.  And they said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?”

Growing in faith

Growing in knowledge

Growing in spiritual passion.

2 Peter 3:17-18  “You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard lest, being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Philippians 3:8-11 “More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ,  and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,  that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

C.        Loving God, 6:5

To total response to his revelation.

And our responsibility to Him is to love Him with our whole being.

Not merely an overpowering awe and affection over the greatness of God and His love.  But trust and obedience.

Why we have trouble obeying God..old problem of conflicting masters

John 14:15  Not a command.  But statement of a fact.

4 Marks of a Spiritual Leader

1.         Desires to seek the Lord

2.         Convictions built from God’s Word

3.         Personal behavior brought in line with God’s Word

(Little compromises in me become big compromises in them.)

4.         Persistently teach God’s Word in the natural flow of life.

Ezra 7:9c-10  “The good hand of his God was upon him for Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to practice it and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.”

One Example….

How you can tell if you really love God…simple test…

Matthew 6:19-24  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal;  for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!  No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

 

Great need to re-evaluate our values and priorities

Luke 16:9-13  “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.  He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.

If therefore you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon, who will entrust the true riches to you? “And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?

“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Conclusion:

God Give Us Spiritual Leaders….

You and Your Child, pp114-115

III.       The Process of Teaching

Where to start

How to go about it

what to do next

and what your emphasis ought to be.

4 -Fold Procedure:

A.        The place to start is with yourself.

Deut 4:12-15a.  “Therefore, take heed to yourselves.”

The only place to start is with yourself, not your children.

With yourself, not with others.

The factor that heals and holds a home together is for parents to become what God wants, that they become whole persons living before Him.

We exist to be people before God.

Strange distortion of parents today.

To be enslaved to their children running here and running there

to keep up with the rest of the neighborhood and its activities.

God first, yourself next and others third.

If you do not make time for God

If you do not make time for yourself and for your spouse

You will have nothing to offer your children but a poor model to follow.

Yes, being an adult is learning to take responsibility for helping and serving others.  God knows how needy children are, how much time they take, how much attention and affection they need.  The Lord knows all that.

But adults and parents are people too.

Our relationship with God is priority one!

Even though children’s needs are import, and often urgent

It is a huge mistake to make children the center of your life!

The most lasting relationship in life is our relationship with God.

The most lasting human relationship, if God allows this grace in your

life is to your spouse.

The birth of a baby and the gift of a new life entrusted to you as a parent is an awesome mystery!

Totally helpless.  It can’t feed itself, it can’t change itself.

All it does is sleep, eat, cry, smile, and …well you get the picture.

Temporarily parents become slaves to their new baby!  Nothing wrong

But should that be the ongoing pattern?

Should they be the center of your shopping experience?

Should they be the center of your home when you have company?

Should you always push your time with God

and your time with your spouse

and your time with friends

aside make them the center of your life?  No way!

ILL:  Single parents!

Wives with husbands who treat them as the nanny

as if they were blind and didn’t even see you or your needs

any more.

Parents who do not gradually let go to allow the children

the opportunity to grow up, to learn to stand on their own

two feed…always rescuing them from the reproofs of life

in the school of hard knocks.

Always choosing their side, often if not always blaming others for the mess their child is in.

“There is nothing more deadly than a mother who lives for her children neglecting her husband, neglecting herself, who does not develop as a person because she is so intent on trying to raise her children rightly.  This is a very destructive force in the home.” Stedman.

So stop felling selfish for doing something for your self once in a while.

Mothers must take time for themselves.

Husbands and wives must take time for each other

while their children are going up.  Or….

Not please note the priority here is to love God with your whole heart.

He is the be the center of your life!

Children will follow models, not words.

IV.       The Killers of Spiritual Passion and Their Cure, 6:10-25

1.         Satisfaction, Deut 6:10-12

2.         Difficulties, Deut 6:13-17

3.         Rule-Keeping w/o meaning, 6:18-25