A pet store delivery truck was making its way through town when the other travelers couldn’t help but notice the peculiar behavior of the truck’s driver. Every time the truck came to a red light or stop sign, the driver would jump out of the truck with a baseball bat in his grasp, run to the back of the truck and beat viciously on the back panel. After witnessing this bizarre behavior through several intersections, the man who was stuck behind the truck finally got out of his car and asked the pet store delivery truck driver why he was beating the back panel of his truck with a baseball bat. The driver explained, “This is only a two-ton truck and I’m carrying four tons of parrots and other exotic birds, so I’ve got to keep two tons of them in the air at all times!”
This sounds like many of our families, doesn’t it? We seem to be burning the candle at both ends with so much going on. That’s why we are taking the next four weeks to talk about family. We are calling this series, “Bless This Home,” because I’m sure most of us here want our families to be blessed. Sadly, though, that’s not how many of us would describe our families. If I were to ask you, “How is your family doing?” Instead of saying, “Blessed!” you might respond, “We’re hanging in there.” Or, “We’re struggling.” Or, “It’s tougher than we thought. We are a blended family, and although we thought our kids would all mesh together like the Brady Bunch, our experience has been more like Big Brother.” Perhaps you are a single parent and you feel like you are unraveling due to the demands on you, raising children with no help.
We want to be blessed, but many families are STRESSED.
Whether your family is struggling, hanging in there, or unraveling, I have GOOD NEWS for you today. God’s desire is for your family to be BLESSED! Four times in the book of Deuteronomy alone, God tells his people that if they will simply obey him; that is, do life his way, that everything they touched and set out to do would be blessed.
Deuteronomy 28 is one of these sections. Just to get an idea of how God desires to bless his people, let’s read the first few verses:
Deuteronomy 28:1-6, “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. 3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground and the fruit of your cattle, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. 5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. 6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.”
I want us to ask, and attempt to answer a few questions this morning to help us understand what God wants to do for us, as families, and how we can experience His blessing upon us
QUESTION 1: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BLESSED?
The simplest definition of the word used in the Bible for “blessed” would be “Happy.” That’s the literal, simple meaning of the Greek word used in the beatitudes in Matthew 5. However, Jesus didn’t speak Greek. Neither did he teach from a Greek perspective. He was a Jew and in order to understand what Jesus meant when he used the word “blessed” we’ve got to understand its Jewish roots.
To bless, according to the Old Testament, carried the idea of bestowing favor and goodness upon another person. It also included the idea of granting prosperity and well-being. It meant to enjoy God’s favor, approval and empowerment.
My favorite definition of “Blessed” comes from pastor Robert Morris. He states that it means, “Having supernatural power working for you.” That’s what God wants for your family. As our pastor, that’s what I want as well. I want to see your family BLESSED—God’s supernatural power working for you, in every area of your family’s life, propelling you farther and lifting you higher than you could ever attain on your own.
QUESTION 2: If God’s will is to bless, then WHY IS MY FAMILY SO STRESSED?
We are born into a fallen, cursed world. God created man in His own image. This means that among other qualities, God gave man a FREE WILL. Man was created with the ability to choose. Sadly, the first man and woman used their free will to choose against God. This opened the door for all manner of chaos.
Genesis 3:17-19, And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Think about it this way. The natural order of anything is decomposition. If you don’t make an effort to eat healthy and exercise, your body will fall into poor shape and sickness becomes inevitable. If you don’t take the time to fertilize and care for your lawn, it will naturally become overrun with weeds. Everything naturally drifts toward disrepair because this world is cursed.
QUESTION 3: HOW CAN WE MOVE FROM STRESSED TO BLESSED?
In Matthew 5, Jesus begins his Sermon on the Mount with what we call the Beatitudes. These are several statements that begin with the word “Blessed.” We are going to take 4 of these statements and apply them to our families.
Today, let’s begin with Matthew 5:6,
Matthew 5:6, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
God’s supernatural power is at work for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.
Jesus’ audience was very aware of hunger and thirst. Food was scarce. The average person ate meat, maybe once per week. Many people only had one meal each day. In an arid climate, drinkable water was also scarce. We live in a land of abundance where none of us have found ourselves hurting for food and going without. Our idea of hunger is when dinner is 30 minutes late.
But we all hunger and thirst for something. We hunger and thirst for money possessions. We hunger and thirst for fun and a healthy reputation in the community. We hunger and thirst for popularity and success. What does your family hunger for? Think back over the last seven days and based on how you prioritized your life, what would you say your family is hungry for? For many it would be more stuff. For others, sports championships. Still others would say comfort rules your home.
TODAY’S STEP: CHANGE YOUR APPETITE.
Do move from STRESSED to BLESSED, we must change our families’ appetites. I spent several years working as a personal fitness trainer. One of the biggest hurdles I faced with clients who were wanting to lose weight and get healthy was this mountain of changing their physical appetites. It was like pulling teeth to get some of my clients to lay off the sugary foods, the fatty foods, and the sodium-laden processed foods. Many would complain that healthy food was bland and not good. The problem wasn’t what we were getting them to eat; it was the fact that they were so used to salty food that’s what they thought food should taste like. However, if we could keep a client on a clean diet for two to three weeks, their appetite would begin to change. Their bodies would adjust to healthy food. They would experience the weight loss, energy increase and other advantages of healthy eating. They would also begin to enjoy how real food tastes. In fact, it wasn’t uncommon for clients to tell me that they had gone out to eat and had a hard time with the restaurant food because it was so salty. Their appetites changed.
Our families need to change our appetites, spiritually. Just as there are physical diets that work and some that don’t work, there are also spiritual diets that work, and spiritual diets that don’t work.
Let’s look at what doesn’t work: RELIGION DOESN’T WORK. Sometimes we think that if we’ll get more religious as a family, our lives will get better. Religion comes in two flavors. The first is BITTER LEGALISM. Legalism becomes the all-you-can-eat buffet of rules, the vast majority of which begin with the word DON’T. Don’t drink. Don’t smoke. Don’t chew. Don’t dance. Don’t hang out with those people. Don’t… don’t… don’t… don’t. Somehow we get this idea that if we can weigh our lives down with enough rules that our lives will become less stressful, but keeping up with all the rules only adds to the stress.
The second flavor religion offers is BLAND CONVENIENCE. We make church PART of our routine. It’s what we do on Sunday, sometimes. With bland convenience Jesus is nothing but an ADD-ON, or ACCESSORY to life; much like an earring, necklace, wristwatch, or groovy socks.
Religion doesn’t work when it comes to changing our appetite. What does work is RELATIONSHIP. And as we begin to walk in relationship with Christ we find ourselves transforming from the typical, American “Christian” family to being a CHRIST-CENTERED home. Religion is something we keep. Relationship, though is something we must PURSUE.
In Psalm 63:1, we find this cry to God:
Psalm 63:1 (NIV), You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
Think about the words we’ve heard so far today concerning our relationship with Christ: HUNGER… THIRST… SEEK… OBEY. They all carry the idea of PURSUING.
What is your family pursuing? Whatever it is you are pursuing, that is your God.
“You, O promotion at work, are my God, earnestly I seek you.”
“You, brand new car, are my God, earnestly I seek you.”
“You, AAU volleyball championship, that I’ve traded Sunday’s at church to pursue, are my God, earnestly I seek you.”
“You camper by the lake, are my God, earnestly I seek you.”
QUESTION 4: HOW CAN MY FAMILY CREATE A HUNGER FOR GOD?
1. Involve God in your DAILY conversations.
One simple way to do this is to cultivate THANKFULNESS and GRATITUDE around the dinner table. Dad, make a point each evening when the family is together to share something the Lord did for THAT DAY. As you talk about each other’s day, find the opportunities to see God in these events.
2. Make CHURCH non-negotiable.
The road for my getting in better physical shape began the day I made working-out a non-negotiable. Five times each week I go to the gym unless I have a fever or something so important has come up that it has to be done during that time slot. Church must take the same kind of precedence in our lives if we are going to change our families’ appetites from the things of this world to righteousness.
3. Make seeking and serving God FUN.
A family in our church took a few Saturday’s last summer, loaded some popsicles in an ice chest, and went to the lake to give them out to the people there. As they gave out popsicles, they simply asked people if they could pray for them. Most took the popsicle but declined the prayer. BUT, for those who said, “Yes,” this experience changed the lives of this family’s children. They began to see how real God is, and they had fun doing it.
CONCLUSION: There’s a temptation to look at your family situation and say, “We are too far gone. There’s no way we can turn our family around.” Having a blessed family seems unattainable and too far out of reach. The truth is, you can have exactly what God wants you to have if you’ll just start pursuing him, today.
In his farewell address to the people of Israel, Joshua challenged them to choose whom they would serve.
Joshua 24:15, “Choose this day whom you will serve... But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Just as Joshua challenged the Dads of his generation, I want to lay down the same challenge to the dads and other men in this place today. It’s time for us to choose whom we will serve. Dad, if you will choose that as for you and your house you will serve the Lord—I don’t mean get more religious, but begin pursuing relationship with Him—here’s what you’ll find: your wife and your kids will gladly pursue him with you.
(We concluded this message with a prayer for men who were ready to make this kind of a commitment)
