OPEN: During the 1600’s there was an Emperor in India by the name of Shah Jahan (the 5th Emperor during the Mughal Dynasty) and he was believed to have been descended from Tamerlane and Genghis Khan
Some time during his reign, a rebel group in the southern portion of India sought to reject his rule and so he led an army to defeat them. In his entourage was his beloved wife – who was pregnant with their 14th child. Unfortunately she died while giving birth.
The Emperor was overwhelmed with grief and locked himself in his quarters where he neither ate nor drank for 3 days and kept the doors locked for a total of 9 days. When he emerged from his rooms, his raven black hair had turned completely white and his heart was filled with a dream.
He would build two memorials. One would be a tomb made of white marble for his wife’s body, and the other a tomb of black marble to be used for his burial chambers (which he never was never able to build).
The construction of her tomb required 22,000 men and women to labor 24 hours a day for 22 years. It was built of white marble decorated with 28 different kinds of gems. A sheet of pearls was spread over the coffin doors of solid silver opened onto the tomb and a solid gold railing surrounded the monument.
(Readers Digest 11/83 p.161)
Does anyone know the name of this tomb in India?
The Taj Mahal
APPLY: The Taj Mahal is one of the most famous memorials in the world, and it is a memorial to death. The Shah didn’t build it while his wife lived… only after she died.
That’s the way it often is with memorials.
Memorials are often built to remind us of someone who has died that we care for or respect.
A memorial is something that is built to help us remember.
Now, here in Deuteronomy 6, God is asking His people to REMEMBER something.
In Deuteronomy 6:6-7 God declared “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”
God was saying
- I want you to build memories into your family.
- I want you to help them remember the commandments I’m giving you today.
And He speaks of it almost like He’s asking them to build a memorial
In verses 8-9 He says
“Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
BUILD A MEMORIAL - IN YOUR FAMILY - TO MY WORD
The people of Israel eventually took these commands literally.
They actually TIED His Word to their hands/ foreheads, and WROTE them on their doorframes.
They created little boxes called Phylacteries that they tie to their forehead and arms. (show a picture of a phylactery on the screen).
They also built a different kind of box called a Mezuzah that they nail to their doorframes. Religious Jews are expected to touch the mezuzah as they enter and exit their homes.
Now frankly – that’s seems fairly innocent
It can even be a helpful practice because these little boxes constantly reminded Jewish people of their commitment to God’s Law.
But the problem became that many Israelites ended forgetting about God’s Law, and began putting their faith into those little boxes. NONE of those phylacteries or Mezuzahs were big enough to hold the entire law. Mezuzahs (for example) hold Deuteronomy 6:1-8; and Deuteronomy 11:18-21 - called the Shema (or “Hear”). It was in this Shema that Israel was told that God wanted “These COMMANDMENTS that I give you today” (not just the Shema) “to be upon your hearts” (not merely in a box somewhere). Deuteronomy 6:6
The faithful in Israel got to the point where they focused more on the boxes than on the contents.
For example, one source I read said the Mezuzah was to be (Mezuzah picture)…
· mounted ONLY on the right door post of the home
· it was to be slanted so that the top is pointed to the inside of the room
· it should be affixed to each room in the home (except the bathroom)
· AND its contents must be examined by a reliable scribe at least twice every 7 yrs to make sure the ink on the parchment hadn’t faded.
If these requirements were not met… “its blessings are nullified”
(studentorgs.utexas.edu/cjso/Mezuzah)
In other words:
If you don’t do it right… God won’t like you very much. And He won’t bless you!
Now there’s something seriously wrong with that kind of thinking.
Aside from the fact that this ISN’T what God said this kind of practice put an unhealthy focus on a man-made box.
Carried to extremes, these boxes can be memorials - not to God’s Living Word - but to a dead faith.
People can become so focused on their little boxes that they might feel that, as long as they touch the little box and perform their religious ritual, they could:
· be hateful towards others
· lie to their friends
· cheat on their spouses
· be filled with lust and bitterness
But as long as they could touch that little box they could feel they had fulfilled their religious obligations. And thus, the box can be a memorial to a dead faith.
And we think to ourselves… silly Jews.
But of course, there are people in denominational congregations who do much the same thing. They touch holy objects, or light specific candles and feel that this substitutes for lives of righteousness.
And we think to ourselves… silly denominational people.
But it can happen to anyone seated in this building.
There are many Christians who put their faith inside a little box. It doesn’t have to be a literal box - it can be a religious practice that cancels out bad behavior.
George Faull noted this in one of his newsletters a couple of years ago.
And he told an illustration to point how easy it is to fall into this kind of thinking.
He said he’d heard that if you ate a Snickers Candy bar (that’s filled with calories) but then you drank a diet cola (with no calories)… the diet cola canceled out the calories of the candy bar.
How many of you believe that?
How many of you want to believe that? (Of course you do. We all do)
Faull went on to say that there are many Christians who reason that way about their faith.
· Telling lies is cancelled out by attending church.
· Being a rebellious wife can be balanced out by teaching Sunday School.
· If you abuse your wife–you can make up for that by faithfully attending mid-week Bible studies
· Sleeping with your boyfriend/girlfriend you can cancel out that sin by giving a gift (sizable gift) to the church.
· Gossip is canceled when you give a check to support a missionary.
· When you refuse to forgiven an enemy you can cancel that out by being kind to the poor.
· If you hate someone who’s done you wrong… you cancel that out by loving Jesus.
· If you’re a mean spirited and critical person… you can cancel that by your love of gospel music
Silly isn’t it? But there are folk who do things like that. They’ll put their faith in little boxes that they touch once in a while to assure themselves they’re being religious. But in the meantime, they dishonor the Jesus they say they love.
They build memorials to a dead faith
Now this sermon series is called “Suburban Myths”
It focuses on things people believe about their families/ and their faith that aren’t really true.
And the suburban myth we’re dealing with today is this one:
“ALL My Family Needs Is Church”
And God tells us here in Deuteronomy 6 - that’s not true!
God was telling his people He wanted them to build a living faith into their children.
He doesn’t want it to be a Sunday Morning go to church kind of faith.
He says: “Impress them on your children.
Talk about them when you sit at home
and when you walk along the road,
when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronomy 6:7
“Don’t put your faith in a box” He’s telling them.
Make your faith A REAL THING, that is part of every thing you do.
Incorporate it into your life when you sit at home/ walk along the road/ lie down/get up.
Carry your faith with you everywhere you go.
God had told Israel that they were to fix His commandments to their hands and foreheads. But He didn’t mean they should put a box on heads or arms. He meant that they should make their faith so obvious that others could just look at them and know they were His.
God told them they should write His commandments on their doorframes and gates. He didn’t mean that they should take a magic marker and write His Word all over their doors. He meant that should make their faith so much a part of life, that folks would sense it moment they step into their home.
The problem for too many Christians is that they don’t live like that.
They put in their time on Sunday morning. They go thru their religious rituals and they feel that’s enough to get them AND their family through the week.
But, it’s simply not enough.
A 2003 report by AOL/Time Warner tells us that
* The average child under the age of 3 is exposed to 700 commercials a week.
* The average 12 year old spends 4 hours per day watching television.
And that’s just a small snapshot of the exposure kids get to TV. That doesn’t cover the time they spend on the internet and listening to secular music.
Now you may or may not be able to completely control those influences in your child/grandchild’s life
BUT you can take every opportunity to expose them to God
ILLUS: I once read an illustration of a family who took this seriously.
One night at a pizza parlor, we decided to use the minutes waiting for our food as a teaching time. We passed out an index card and pencil to each child and had them write down a new memory verse: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." (Col. 3:23).
Then we said, "Let’s watch this waitress and see what kind of worker she is. Do you think she is working with all her heart."
The kids never took their eyes off her. Their half whispered comments continued in a steady stream.
"She was sure nice about bringing extra napkins."
"She has to stand up all the time, and she’s not crabby."
The waitress never knew she was being scrutinized. By the end of the meal, the children not only had the Scripture nailed down, but also had done an on-site study of its meaning.
(Dean and Grace Merrill in "Together at Home", Tyndale)
That couple wisely made a game out of learning God’s Word.
They were creative/inventive.
And they took seriously God’s request for them to impress God’s Will on their children.
Now I don’t mean to underestimate the value of church.
YOU SHOULD have your family in Church every Sunday
You should make sure they get to church camp every summer
You should involve them in VBS… and youth groups and Sunday School
BUT you can’t put your family’s faith in somebody else’s hands (teachers/preachers) and think that this will be enough. We have excellent youth workers and Sunday School teachers and workers on Wednesday nights… but ultimately that is no substitute for your kids seeing you live your faith in front them every day.
ILLUS: Back in the 1800’s there was a young man who had a profound sense of admiration for his father. His father saw to it that the life of the family revolved around the religious practices of their faith. In his teen years, however, the boy’s family was forced to move to another town in Germany. The life of the community revolved around the Lutheran church; all the best people belonged to it. Suddenly, the father announced to the family that they were going to abandon their Jewish traditions and join the Lutheran church. When the stunned family asked why, they father explained that it would be good for his business. The youngster was bewildered and confused. His deep disappointment soon gave way to anger and a kind of intense bitterness that plagued him through his life. ("Developing the Leader Within You" by John Maxwell)
He became a parasite on society, a heavy drinker, an adulterer (he never even went to his wife’s funeral) and two of his children committed suicide. He himself died bankrupt and in despair.
He accomplished nothing of any lasting significance with his life… except for one book that he wrote. It was entitled “Das Kapital”. In it he declared that “religion is the opiate of the people”.
Can anyone guess who this man was?
He was Karl Marx. And his book “Das Kapital” became the foundation of communism, and led to the destruction of 1000s of lives.
CLOSE: By contrast I read about a small boy who was consistently late coming home from school.
His parents warned him that he must be home on time that afternoon but nevertheless he arrived later than ever.
His mother met him at the door and said nothing.
His father met him in the living room and said nothing.
At dinner that night, the boy looked at his plate. There was a slice of bread and a glass of water. He looked at his father’s full plate and then at his father, but his father remained silent.
The boy was crushed.
The father waited for the full impact to sink in, then quietly took his own plate of meat and potatoes, put it in front of the boy and smiled at his son. When that boy grew to be a man, he said, "All my life I’ve known what God is like by what my father did that night."
