The Building Blocks Of A Happy Home

Sermon - The Building Blocks of A Happy Home

Scripture: Proverbs 24:3-4 “A house is built by wisdom and becomes strong through good sense. Through knowledge its rooms are filled with all sorts of precious riches and valuables.”

Introduction: With so much division in the world, you may wonder, can anything be done? Today, many families seem to be falling apart and the world has become a very angry place. Reading a recent article on The Ten Building Blocks for a Happy Family, Jim Burns, the president of Home Word, suggest ten ingredients for building a happy home:

1. Be there for your kids. Your children regard your presence as a sign of caring and connectedness (even when they don’t seem to do so!) Presence provides kids with a greater sense of security than almost any other quality parents can offer.

2. Express affection, warmth, and encouragement. Families with a sense of A.W.E. – as opposed to shame-based parenting – is a home where children and spouses will feel more secure.

3. Build healthy morals and values. The decisions kids make today will often affect them for the rest of their lives. Parents have significant powers of influence – through modeling and teaching – over the morals and values their kids carry into adulthood!

4. Discipline with consistency. Clearly expressed expectations and consistent follow-through produce responsible kids. Make your goal of discipline one of teaching kids responsibility not evoking obedience.

5. Ruthlessly eliminate stress. The unbalanced life will not be kind to the areas we neglect. Parents must make the difficult decisions of reducing the effect of our culture’s breathless pace on their family.

6. Communication is key. Positive communication is the language of love for our children. Parents must take the initiative to set the tone for family communication – which includes the important skill of listening.

7. Play is necessary for a close-knit family. There is nothing like play to bring about family togetherness and communication. Play builds family memories, reduces family stress and produces support and affirmation.

8. Love your spouse. A loving marriage brings hope and security to your children. At times, this means putting your spouse’s needs ahead of your children’s needs.

9. Let your life reflect the understanding that the best things in life are not things. Healthy stewardship and financial decisions produce positive family priorities.

10. Energize your family’s spiritual growth. Your greatest calling in life is to leave a spiritual legacy for your children. Pay close attention to your own spiritual health and model a healthy spirituality for your family.

What a great list of suggestions. Our text from Proverbs is pointing us to the good life. Solomon is not interested only in helping individuals construct a building to eat and sleep in, as important as that is. Instead, the word house is used to represent a happy home, a good family, a sweet life. If a happy home and good family are built on wisdom, that is a willingness to align our lives with what God’s word says, the results will be beautiful, and life will be sweet. What are some principles that God tells us in these verses?

First, a home must be built. A beautiful family doesn’t just happen. Creating a good home takes work. The person who thinks they will not have to work at building a happy home is in for a rude awakening. The phrase, “And they all lived happily ever after” only happens in the movies. Any good home must be built and established. This is a great beginning, but a loving happy home takes effort, perseverance, and skill.

Second, to build a home, you need an understanding of the plan. The text says, “by understanding it is established.” You need to know in your mind what it will look like. Wise house builders start with a blueprint. Otherwise, they are just building haphazardly.

Proverbs 3:13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

Proverbs 4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

Proverbs 4:7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding

Thankfully, God’s word provides a plan for what godly relationships will look like in a good family. Yes, each house is unique to its builders and decorators. But all well-built houses follow the same principles.

Similarly, not every godly family looks alike. There are many differences in culture, family of origin, and values. However, godly homes must practice similar biblical principles. Every family needs a head, every family needs to practice humility, every family needs loving cooperation and every family member need to value one another. If the family members trust the Lord’s good design, they will build a home that honors the Lord and that values one another. Families who ignore God’s design will have trouble. Allow God’s word to be your rock, all other ground is sinking sand. There are some cheaper ways to build, but it is more costly in the end. (Jesus’s parable on building) Matthew 7:26-27 “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.” Sand may be cheaper and faster, but it will not withstand the storm.