← ArchiveSunday, July 30, 2017DateJuly 30, 2017Speaker—TextDeuteronomy 6Passages in this sermonDeuteronomy 6:45:211 John 4:1910:55Jeremiah 3135:47TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00This video will be done in a few minutes. This video will be done in a few minutes. This video will be done in a few minutes. This video will be done in a few minutes. Welcome to Bethel Baptist Church.0:23My name is Josh, lead pastor here, if you do not know who I am. We begin today a new series, what we call Ducks in a Row, which is simply a series on prioritizing our life. So we begin this morning, we're looking at our family. How can we prioritize our lives in a way that we have Christ-centered homes0:52and Christ-centered families? Jules Verne, the famous author who wrote 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, also penned a novel, The Mysterious Island, which I had not heard of. But in this novel, five prisoners of the Civil War decided to escape. Now, of course, it is fiction, it is a novel, so they escape on a hot air balloon.1:17And to their chagrin, the currents of the air pick them up very quickly, and before long they are over the ocean. Well, as they are regrouping and figuring out now how do we escape prison, how do we now escape this balloon, they realize that as they are thinking about their escape, they are closely going towards the ocean.1:38So they are beginning to descend so that they get together five of these men and say, well, how are we going to alleviate this problem? What are we going to prioritize in a way that we don't sink? And so they look for any excess weight they have. So they throw their weapons overboard. They also throw their cargo and anything that they can find, clothes, extra artillery,2:04and they begin to lift up away from the ocean. Well, unfortunately, several hours later, they begin to notice that the ocean is getting closer again. And so they look around for anything excess that they can find. And the one thing they find is food. And so they are having to deliberate, do we drown fat or do we die starving?2:26And so they decide we are going to throw the food over and we will just see what happens. And so they throw the food over and again the hot air balloon takes off and they do not drown. Well, several hours later, again, they notice that the blackness of the sea is rising. And they realize that we are going to drown. And we have no ammunition.2:55We have nothing to save ourselves. We have no food. And they say, what else can we do? And so they decide if we tie the ropes together, maybe we can cut loose the basket and save ourselves. And so they do that. They tie the ropes where they can hoist themselves up and they cut the basket loose, all five of these men. And the balloon takes off again. So they do not drown. And thankfully, as they do that, they realize that they are over land.3:20And as the balloon descends, the rest of the novel picks up on the island where they are having to save themselves. And they find a man named Captain Nemo. Now, why do I tell you that story? Some of our youth are thinking, look, why? I don't want to do reading. It's the summertime. Why would you ever even bring that up? Well, here's why. Because they had to learn what weights were going to cost them their lives.3:47They had to determine what in my life is excess at this moment. And what can I throw overboard to spare my life in the moment. And as we spend the next several weeks asking the Lord to prioritize our lives, may that be our heart. May we say, Lord, nothing is off the table. If it is causing me to sink and drown, Lord, take it away.4:13And may this be our heart as we look at God-given and God-aligned families. And ultimately, may God impress upon our hearts today what it looks like to be a family and have homes that honor Jesus Christ and that we have our priorities in order. Now, I know what you're thinking. In all of our lives, there are things where we don't want God to touch.4:41That God is saying, you're drowning. We throw the food over. And we say, well, Lord, if I do that, then I'll starve. Right? Lord, you know how much that relationship means to me. I can't walk away from that. Or, Lord, you know that we enjoy doing this. Father, we can't cut that out of our life. And so, may our prayer be, Lord, other than my salvation in Jesus, everything else is on the table.5:03And if it is a weight that easily entangles, Father, may you sever it this morning. And may we be people who honor Christ in our lives. We're going to look today at Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4. Right? Shema Yisrael. Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad.5:29Right? Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one. One. And we will see that we are to love Him with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our strength this morning. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 4. Listen, Israel. Listen, Bethel. The Lord your God is one.5:58Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength. These words 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.6:25Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorpost of your house and on your city gates. This is the word of God to us this morning. Let's pray. Father, we ask simply that you open our hearts. That you illuminate our minds and that you, Lord, let us stretch out our hands that we would be willing to give you what you freely give us.6:54That we would not be hearers only of your word. That we would not cling to the weights that cause us to sink. But we would cling to Jesus Christ. And we pray this in the only name that we can pray in. The name of Jesus. Amen and amen.7:23I have three points. No poem, but three points this morning. How can we have God-given and Christ-centered families? First is this in verse 4. Our faith, your faith is personal. Your faith is personal. Look at verse 4. Listen, Israel. The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And I want us to key on verse 5. So read with me. Right?7:52Right? Love the Lord. Who's God? Your God. Right? With all of your, sorry. With all of your heart. With all of your soul. And with all of your strength. Now, it kind of sounds strange for me to say your and you to say me. So let's reread it with putting the first person pronoun here. I. Right? So, verse 5 again.8:20Love the Lord my God. With all of my heart. With all of my soul. And with all of my strength. Isn't it interesting when God impresses upon us to have families that honor Christ. That it begins with not you, but he begins with me. You know, God has often a way to get personal, doesn't he? Because our faith is personal. This is the first book in the Bible that talks about loving God.8:49Loving the Lord. Interestingly, not a single person in scripture is said to love God with an agape love. Not a single person. Never in the Psalms is a person that said to love God. Now, this might open our eyes more when Jesus comes to Peter and restores him. He says, Peter, do you agape me? Peter, do you love me?9:17And Peter says, Lord, you know I philas you. You know I love you with a brotherly love. We're quick to say, Peter, don't you love God with everything? But maybe Peter is saying, Lord, you know no one in your word has claimed to ever love you like that. And then Jesus again says, Peter, do you agape me? Peter says, Lord, you know I philas you. You know I love you like a brother.9:46Lord, you know no one is said to love you in scripture like this. And then Jesus says, Peter, do you philas me? Peter says, Lord, you know I love you. God's word commands us to love him with our heart, with our soul, with our strength. Now, this is what we need to really sit and rest upon though this morning. That when we sing songs. Now, let me just warn us, right?10:14If no one in scripture has ever said to love God. And we sing songs all the time. Lord, I love you. I lift my voice to honor you. Oh, my soul, rejoice. Hebrew thoughts. To love God is to obey him. And so for me to sing a song about loving God and have no attention to obey him is emptiness and vanity. So your faith is personal.10:44So how do we love him then? If God commands us to love him, how do we love him? 1 John 4:19 says simply, we love because he loved us. So I'm commanded to love God, but I can't love God until I know that he loves me. So very simply, how do we love God? We first have to receive his love.11:13And for some of us, that's difficult because we struggle with this thought. We say, God, I don't love me. So how could you love me? And God says, but Josh, I'm not you. And when we understand that, we say, God, thank you that you're not me. We are commanded to love him, to love him. I'm thankful that the love of God in my life is not premeditated or predisposed to my obedience.11:40Why does God, why can we love? We love because who? God first loved us. Period. It didn't say that we love because God thought we were good. Or God loves me because he thought I was going to church. Or one day I might be something. God loves us when we were holy terrorists. I mean, that's what sin does in our life.12:11So whoever's a terrorist in your mind, I know a lot of you are thinking turban. Whoever is that evildoer in your mind, that's you and me. And when we were that person, God sent his son for you and for me that we would know his love. There's no greater love than this, that a man laid down his life for a friend. And that is what Jesus has done for you.12:39He said, well, pastor, you don't know what I've done. I don't care. God knows and he loves you. Our faith is personal. He said, you received the love that God has for you. So here's our kid point. I know we have some kids in here today. Any kids? Anyone younger than 12? Raise your hands. Awesome. Anyone at younger than 12? Okay, just making sure.13:09Honesty is always the best policy. So for our kids, there will be a day when the faith of your family and the faith of your parents has to become your own. It has to become yours. And parents, there will be a day where as much as you love your kids, you cannot push them to God. There's a day where you have to trust the Holy Spirit and say, Lord, you work in their hearts.13:35I've done everything I can do. I am leading them in paths of righteousness, but Lord, I trust them to you. And so you can throw them in the baptistry if you want to, but that will not save their souls. But you can give them God's word and Jesus who loves them can save them. Kids, listen to me. I pray that your faith of your parents and the faith of your church will become yours one day.14:01And what a great day if that day was today. Your faith must be personal. Your faith must be personal. Not only must we receive the love of God. Secondly, we must demonstrate the love of God. To love in Hebrew means to act lovingly. So look what God's word says. Verse 5. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength.14:26So God is radically reorganizing our life. He's saying your faith must be personal and to have priorities correct, you must love me. Now, God's word is no accident. And I believe every word of God is inspired by God to us. And I go further than that. I believe the order of the words are inspired by God.14:55And you say, "Well, Pastor, this is not written in English. It's written in Hebrew." I get that. Okay? I get it. I believe that the words of the Hebrew are inspired. Look at the order of God's word. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your strength. If we were writing this, we would write it like this. God, I will love you with all of my strength.15:24I will love you with all of my soul. And then, Lord, if that works out, then I'll love you with my heart. Because we are people who want to do, aren't we? God, I'm going to show you my love. I'm going to go to church. I'm going to read my Bible. God, I'm going to study my Sunday school lesson. I know it's life roots, but just bear with me. God, I'm going to do this. I'm going to work really hard. And you're going to love me because I work for you. And God says, "But you don't understand."15:53I said, "You are to love me first with all of your heart." The heart, in Hebrew, was the seat of thinking. I know, Americans, we have it backwards. We think the heart is our seat of emotions. But the heart was the seat of thinking and purpose and intellect. So what is God saying here? He's saying, "I have not called you to mindless worship." God doesn't say to us, "If you just empty your mind, then you will have faith."16:21God is saying, "Give me your mind." Meditate on my word. God never asks us to empty ourselves. God says, "Think deeply on truth." And truth ultimately always leads to Jesus Christ. If you have an open heart and you are seeking truth, it will always lead to Jesus. Why? Because He says, "He is the way. He is the truth."16:50So how can we love the Lord our God? How can we make our faith personal? Think deeply. Think deeply. And to think deeply about Christ is to love deeply. So we are not a church that says, "Empty your mind. It's going to be fluff. Just have faith. You don't have to think." That is contrary to God's word. Because God says that He has made our minds for His glory. Not only should we give Him our minds.17:19Look at verse 5. "That we are to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all of your soul." So the soul in Hebrew thought was the seat of nephesh or life. It was a seat of emotions and passion. So God is saying, "Now that you've given me your mind, now give me your soul. Give me your emotions." You know, God wants us to be emotional people. Now, this is what the Lord is not saying.17:48He does not want us to go beyond what is written. So if you are a person who is stoic and you don't have highs or lows, you're just kind of there. You're robotish. If that's who you are, God is not calling you to worship Him and throw yourself on the altar like a flopping fish and weep and whale. Right? God has given you a personality to use for Him.18:14And so if you are naturally more reserved, it's okay to worship that way. But if you are someone who is emotional, not in the bad sense, not you're crying out and you're blabbering. No, if you are a passionate person, and if you are the one that goes to the game, a football game, and you're high-fiving and you're yelling and you're screaming and you get excited and you come to church.18:32Amen. That touches my heart very much. Why would we come differently to the love of God than the passion that we show elsewhere in our life? And so God is not calling you to change your personality.19:00And so if you raise your hands at a football game and you are not here, ask yourself, God, why not? Am I scared of people? God, am I more reserved because I feel like that you've changed my personality because that's the culture of the church? No. We say, God, use my personality. I want to worship you with my passion, with my emotion. God, use my personality that you have given me to honor you.19:26And we also love Him with our heart, our soul, and our strength, which means exceedingly. In Hebrew, it is very, very much. It can mean that we love Him with our resources, with everything that we have. This is what we see in Scripture, that priorities begin with the heart. Priorities begin with the heart.19:54Look at verse 5. He says, God's Word, "Love the Lord your God." If you do not love Jesus, He will never be a priority. And you can reorganize your life however you want, but if you do not love Him, He will not be a priority for you. Do you love Him? Is your faith personal? Has it become your own?20:23When that happens, then we can get into the meat. Now we can say, Lord, how do you change our families? But look at verse 7. Not only is our faith personal, but your faith is familial. You say, what is that word? It means for your family. Your faith is familial. Verse 7. Repeat them, these words, to your children. Talk about them. When you sit at your house. When you walk along the road.20:51When you lie down and when you get up. When you're on Facebook and when you're on your phones. Sorry, I added that part. God wants us to be consumed by His love for us. You say, well, how do we have a priority? How do we prioritize Jesus in our family? It begins with the heart. How do you prioritize Jesus in your family? It begins with the heart. You will hide His words in your heart.21:20Verse 6. The Lord your God with all of your heart. The priority of Christ begins where? With the love of God in our heart. And it flows to our families. You see, Jesus is integral to our families. Now let me give us some practical steps. How can we make this true? Parents, very simply, you are the spiritual leaders of your home.21:45You are the spiritual leaders of your home. Worship. The house of worship does not begin here. The house of worship begins at our homes. Right? So if I'm not worshiping at home, then I have no chance here. The house of worship begins where? In our homes.22:14And who's the leader of that? Parents. You say, well, where do you get that? You just made that up. Verse 7. Repeat them to your children. Who's to repeat them? Parents. Parents, you are the spiritual thermostats in your home. I've heard this illustration a billion times. Right? Thermometers gauge the temperature of a room, but they don't change the room. Thermostats, when you're cold, you turn it up, and what happens?22:43The room warms. That doesn't happen much right now. When you're hot, you turn it down, and you hear the AC groan, and it slowly hopefully comes down about midnight. But why does that work? Because the thermostat sets the temperature. Parents, that's what God has called us to be. That's what he's called you to be. God has called you to set the spiritual temperature in your house.23:09So what does that mean? It means that our kids do not lead us. Right? In general. Let's not even talk about spirituality. Kids. This is our kids' point. I just made it up. You are not the boss. Now, that's about to get real ugly. Parents. They are not the boss. And you say, "Well, they're going to throw a fit." You're right.23:38You're right. It's worth the battle. It's worth the fight. How do I know that? Because when I throw temper tantrums spiritually, and I say, "God, I can't believe you would ask me to do that." And I lock myself in my room, and I rip my clothes, and put on dust, and sackcloth, and say, "God, how dare you?" God says, "You'll get over it." And you know what?24:06He's right. Because He is my heavenly Father. Parents, you are the leaders. Be the leaders. And if you say, "Well, you don't understand what's going on in my home." If you need help, that is what we are for. And I say that as someone who's making a lot of mistakes. So if you want to know what not to do, then I have an encyclopedia. And we'll figure it out together. But be the spiritual leaders that God has called you to be.24:35Dads, God has called you to be the spiritual leader of your family. You say, "What does that look like? I don't know what that looks like. How can you help me?" Verse 7, "Repeat them to your children." So set patterns in your life that your kids can see how much you love Jesus. Because priority in Jesus begins where? It begins in the heart. It begins in the heart. And so our kids need to see what?25:04Our heart. They don't need to see how much you go to church. They need to see first your heart. So what does that look like? Dads, your kids need to see you pray. You say, "Well, I struggle with that. How can I pray?" You start at dinnertime. And you say, "Lord, thank you for this meal. Amen." And so that's a short prayer. You're right. That short prayer will have eternal impact on your family.25:33Because your kids are going to say, "You know what? Dad doesn't really know how to pray. But I see his heart. I see his heart." And I know he loves Jesus. Dads, be the spiritual leaders. Our kids need to see us in God's word. You say, "Well, I do my quiet time in secret." Well, you know what? Do your quiet time and make sure that they see you sometimes. Make sure your quiet time is not so quiet.26:01And let them see you open up God's word. And let them see you soak it in. Our kids need to see us in God's word. Why? Because they need to see our heart. And kids. Here's our kid point. You will think and you will feel and you will do what you see your parents doing. Parents. Our kids will think the way we think.26:31They will feel the way we feel. And they will do what they see done. Model for them the love of Jesus. I hear it all the time. You know what? Well, we'll go to church when we have kids. Parents, your kids do not set the spiritual temperature in your house. And if God uses our kids to bring us back to faith, all glory be to Christ. But just because we do it the wrong way doesn't mean God can't overcome our obstacles.27:00Set the spiritual temperature. Worship begins at home. So what else does that look like? Verse 7. Repeat them to your children. You say, okay, I got that. Right? They need to see my heart. And just practically our kids need to see. They need to hear us tell them we love them. And then they need to hear us say, I love you because Jesus loves me. See our heart. Dads, men, we have a hard time doing that.27:30I never forget, we buried a dear friend, Dan Campbell, yesterday. We had his memorial. And one of the last things that he always said to us was, I love you. I love you. And half the people here for that memorial, the last words that he ever said to them was, I love you. And that has left a mark on his life. If we only get one phrase, may it be, I love you and God loves me.27:55Repeat, repeat, repeat. Verse 7. Talk about them. Talk about God. Talk about your faith. When? When you sit in your house. We're Americans. We like to sit. We do. Go to a big city. Go outside the country and you feel like you walk a million miles. So when we sit, talk about God.28:24Talk about what God is doing in your life. Talk about the Lord. If you need resources, we have those available. I'll put those on Facebook. I'll send them out in an email tomorrow. We have a catechism that asks one question a day, actually a week. And then it answers a question in God's Word. And we just talk about that as a family. Now, our conversations are with two-year-olds, okay? So it's not that in-depth. But we're repeating God's Word. Talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the road, when you lie down.28:53Build in regular patterns of loving Jesus together. And you know what? If you have to drag your kid with you to worship, that's okay. That's okay. My parents made me eat when I didn't want to eat. And you know what? I'm alive today because of that. And sometimes we struggle because, look, I get it.29:21When we worship, crazy things happen when we want to worship God. I have seen cars break down. I have seen mysterious two-hour stomach bugs. I have seen one-hour fits. I've seen homes break. When we worship God, it's like the world crumbles around us. Because the world does not want us to worship God as a family. Fight that.29:49Fight that. Build in regular patterns of worship. Not build in church. Build in worship. Show your kids your heart. Love them to Jesus. And make time for spontaneous discussions about Christ. You know, what does that look like? I remember Eli this week. He was telling me this outrageous story. He's five. He's our oldest. He was telling me this outrageous, outlandish story about dinosaurs.30:16He's like, we're going through the T-Rex list here in the neighborhood. I'm like, okay. And then he said, you know what, Dad? God made the dinosaurs. I'm like, this is a great moment to talk about God. I don't know where that fits in the whole, the narrative of what he's dreaming right now. Where dinosaurs are eating goats and things like that. But let's talk about God. Build in regular patterns of worship. And it is worth it.30:46It is worth it. Make God a priority. How do we do that? It is personal, but it is our heart. Show people your heart. We show them our heart. Show them your heart for Jesus Christ. Let me just talk to some of you who don't have any kids at home. You don't have any grandkids at home. Some of you don't like kids and don't want kids and don't want to hear about kids. Okay. If that's you, there are kids in our community and our church that need to see how much you love Jesus.31:11And you know how I feel as a young pastor. If you are a grandparent or a great grandparent, or you could be considered that, or you look like you're a great grandparent. I want to be able to point my children to you and say, you know what? That person would love to talk about Jesus. Go, go talk to them.31:41Do not miss a chance to show someone your heart. Because we are a ginormous family in Jesus. Which means my kids are your problem. Right? And it means that your kids are my problem. And that together we are pointing them to Jesus and making him a priority in our life. Christ-centered homes.32:12Christ-centered homes. Parents, you set the temperature. May we do so for his glory. Lastly, this. The love of God should transform your life and your family. Look at verse 8. Find the words of God on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorpost of your house and on your city gates. So this is what God's Word is saying. If you have God's Word on your forehead, it's noticeable.32:41Right? Can we all agree there? We won't unpack exactly what this means. But if you have something on your forehead, it's there. And my daughter has marker on her nose and her forehead today. Because she doesn't understand that you color in the book, not your face. It's noticeable. And she says, well, Daddy, I cuttered. Well, you don't cuttered on your face. We're working on that. She's very artistic.33:10But if God's Word was on our forehead, how much would the world see? Now, notice what God's Word is not saying. It doesn't say, get a megaphone and just shout. It doesn't say, you know what? Write God's Word on Facebook in all caps and tag the people you know should be listening. No. It says, live in a way that our lives are transformed by the glory of Christ.33:35I want to leave you with this story this morning. A gentleman, he's actually president of Wheaton College, Philip Ryken, says this about his son. He says, during one of the more memorable at-bats of my son's first baseball season, he says he repeatedly hit the tee instead of the ball. And as often as he had practiced, he could not hit the ball in the game, he said, until he realized that if I, his dad, would step out of sight, he could hit the ball.34:04And he said, when he was out in the outfield picking flowers and looking at the butterflies, he said, when he would get the ball and he would throw it back in, the first thing he would do would look for dad.34:19That is the power of family. And whether you know it or not, if you put Christ first in your family, you say, pastor, I'm by myself.34:42No, God has put family and community around you. And may we live in such a way that others would see us and see the approval of Christ in our life. Parents, you will never know how much your children are looking to you. If you are here today, you've brought your kid to church because they need to be saved.35:12Maybe it's you. Maybe it's you. And would we stand up and say, God, transform our families today. We see this in scripture. You and I can literally fulfill this command and still not honor Jesus Christ. I could literally write God's word and bind it around my wrist, write it on my forehead and hang it around my neck and not fulfill God's commands.35:35Jeremiah 31 says this. He says, no longer will anyone teach his neighbor or his brother saying, know the Lord. He says, in that day I will put my teaching within them and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.36:03You see, the intent of this command all along is that we would write the law of God in our hearts. Because the priority of Jesus begins with loving him because he first loved us. So I ask you this morning, have you made your faith personal and have you made it public? I couldn't help but think of this song as I was praying over these scriptures.36:31I found a friend in Jesus. I found a friend in Jesus. He's everything to me. He's the fairest of 10,000 to my soul. He's the lily of the valley. In him alone I see all I need to cleanse and make me fully whole. I love that first phrase. I found a friend in Jesus. He is everything to me. As we spend the next weeks together prioritizing Jesus.37:00Do you love him like he has commanded you? So, Pastor, you don't understand what I've done for this church. God says this, love the Lord your God with all of your heart first. If he doesn't have your heart, he doesn't have your strength. If he doesn't have your heart, that means my strength is worthless. Have you given your heart to Jesus? Meaning, have you trusted him? A life in Christ only begins when you forsake yourself and surrender.37:29Say, God, I'm tired of trying. I believe in you. Have you made that decision? Faith must be personal. Parents, families, are you living a Christ-filled home? There is no 12 or 10-step paradigm. Just create regular patterns of you loving Jesus together. Parents are going to fail.37:59It's okay. But let our kids see us fail as we love Jesus. And let us tell our kids often, let us tell our neighbors in our houses, we love Jesus. And we love you. And may they see our hearts. And may we put down our electronic devices and say, when we sit together, we'll talk about Jesus. And when we walk together, we'll talk about Jesus. And you know what?38:29When we play, when we vacation, we're going to talk about Jesus. Because he is everything to us. May we have Christ-filled homes. Lastly, I want to ask you this. Have you made your faith public? If you have put your trust in Jesus, who has died in your place as your substitute to cover your sins. And if you have never made your faith public, I want you to know that Jesus commands you to make your faith public. And we would love for you to do that today.38:58And we will rejoice with you. Next week, we're going to have a celebration baptism service. And we have several men and women already lined up. We would love for you to be a part. And to say, my faith is private, but it is also public. And I want to show the world that I love Jesus. Let's pray.More sermons on Deuteronomy →
