Sermon notes
The psalmist testified, "I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread. He is ever merciful, and lends; And his descendants are blessed" (Psalm 37:25-26). God longs to bless our descendants: "His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed. Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever" (Psalm 112:2-3). This promise is real, but there is a part we must do.
Faith Is Not Automatically Inherited
The Bible records many parents who knew God, yet not all their descendants became a blessing. Cain, the son of Adam and Eve, killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8). Lot is called "righteous Lot" (2 Peter 2:7), yet his family did not become a blessing. Isaac and Rebekah had a remarkable monogamous marriage, yet Esau wanted to kill Jacob. Ten of Jacob's sons wanted to kill Joseph, threw him into a pit, sold him to Egypt and then lied to their father. Eli's sons, Hophni and Phinehas, "were corrupt; they did not know the Lord" (1 Samuel 2:12). Samuel's sons "did not walk in his ways; they turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice" (1 Samuel 8:3). Even David, a man after God's own heart, suffered bitter pain in his family through Amnon, Tamar and Absalom.
A Home Centred on Loving God
"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). This command must be taught at home: "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up" (Deuteronomy 6:7), "that you may fear the Lord your God... you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life" (Deuteronomy 6:2). Don't let our home be just a motel, a place to stop, sleep and eat. Let it be "the church in your house" (Philemon 1:2), a place where God is loved, including through Family Altar. The greatest inheritance for our children and grandchildren is not wealth, for we were redeemed "not... with corruptible things, like silver or gold... but with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18-19).
Ps. Agus is grateful to have hosted the Watoto Children's Choir from Uganda for 22 years. In the Watoto villages, orphaned children are raised in a home by a "mama" who loves God, and some of them now serve as pastors. Yet children also see whether our love for God is real. Jesus rebuked, "Hypocrites!... These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me" (Matthew 15:7-8). If we look spiritual at church but are different at home, our children learn hypocrisy. Let us look in the mirror and put our own lives in order first.
A Home That Teaches and Trains Children
"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6). Don't rely only on Sunday school or a Christian school. If we don't teach our children, Hollywood and the world around them will. This responsibility continues to our grandchildren.
"By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king's command" (Hebrews 11:23). Amram and Jochebed placed Moses in an ark of bulrushes on the Nile and entrusted him to God (Exodus 2:3). God brought Moses back to his mother's arms to be nursed, and the faith she taught him in those early years was not erased by decades of Egyptian education. Levi had been under a curse, "Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce" (Genesis 49:7), yet from the home of Amram and Jochebed came Miriam, Aaron and Moses.
Rahab bound the line of scarlet cord in her window and gathered all her family into her home (Joshua 2:18). When the walls of Jericho fell, Rahab and everyone in her house were saved, and her name is recorded in the genealogy of the Lord Jesus. That scarlet cord reminds us of the blood of Christ. Only the blood of Jesus can save our families and cause our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to be blessed and become a blessing. What one step will you take this week to make your home a place where God is loved and children are trained in His Word? The Lord Jesus bless you.
