Word of Salvation – Vol. 18 No.13 – April 1972
A Continuing Church
Sermon by Rev. D. K. Baird, Th.Grad. on Deut.6:4-9
Scripture Reading: Deut. 6:1-15
Psalter Hymnal: 299 (1 to 4); 439 (after grace); 235 (1,2); 449; 427
People are always interested in their children. It is amazing how quick parents are to talk about their children to others. Even a passing question as to the welfare of someone’s child can well provoke a 10 minute discourse.
We are all vitally interested in our children: in their physical growth, in their progress at school, in their sporting activities, and so on. We are interested in their training, and this is right: the Lord wants us to be. But He wants us to train them to be children who serve him.
In many ways, the children of today are the church of tomorrow. Yet the way we as parents act today will determine how our children will grow up.
Our text is very concerned with child-training.
It provides a formula for a continuing church; a three-point formula:-
1. Loving the Lord from the Heart,
2. Teaching every Hour of the Day,
3. Godliness in every Part of Life.
This is a formula for parents, telling us what to do to ensure A CONTINUING CHURCH.
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1. LOVING THE LORD FROM THE HEART.
The opening words of verse 4 are both well-known and very important. Even the Jews recite these twice a day: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God….!” The Lord is claiming all our devotion exclusively for Himself. Because He alone is God, you cannot serve Him AND something else. If you try, your service for the Lord will just be half-hearted.
There is only one God, who calls Himself “the Lord”. He has a certain character, which He has shown to us in the Bible. You must serve Him as He has revealed Himself. If you just make up your own idea of what God is like, and serve that, you are not serving the Lord. People serving “Allah”, for example, are not serving the One God; they are serving their own idea of God. So, if you would serve the Lord, you must find out from the Bible what He is like. In family life too, you cannot just do what YOU think is right; you must do what God says in His Word.
Our age cries out for genuineness. “Away with hypocrisy!” it says. This is supposed to be a new discovery, yet God has always wanted it thus. Verse 5: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” In other words, God wants our whole being, every part of us, bent on serving Him. He doesn’t just want a veneer of obedience; He wants it to come from deep within our heart. He wants a longing from us to please Him, such as you have for someone you love. And He wants us to spare no effort in expressing that love for Him.
If you have no love for the Lord, to be commanded to serve Him, will in the end, just produce hatred. But if you love Him, you will WANT to serve Him. Obedience will be the easiest thing in the world. Just as the subject you like most at school is by far the easiest one to do. If you love the Lord, His commands become a joy: YOU will feel happy, so will the Lord, and others will see it to be genuine.
But SIN wrecks the whole system. Sin means we DO NOT want to serve the Lord, and even when as Christians we want to, we still do it half-heartedly. Fortunately, this One God, the Lord, is also a God of grace. The Lord is a Saviour from sin and its consequences. He spoke forgiveness to Adam, to Noah, Abraham, Jacob, and so on. He delivered the Jews out of the land of Egypt. And here in Deuteronomy 6, He reminds Israel of His gracious promise of a land flowing with milk and honey. All these things are expressions of His love given through the Lord Jesus Christ: His One Son, the Only Christ. And He hasn’t changed. His forgiveness and grace is still for all who would trust in His Son.
But He still wants that willing obedience from the heart. So it is that he gives believers a gift of repentance from sin, and says, in Hebrews 10,
“I will put my laws on their hearts,
and write them on their minds.”
By His Spirit, He implants love within us.
Now we can get somewhere! These words of God must first be “on your heart” before you can teach them to your children. It is no use JUST remembering them in your mind; they must be on your HEART. And they can only be put there by the Spirit of Christ. It is possible to stifle the Spirit, so we must beg the Lord to more and more STRENGTHEN those inner convictions which come from His Word.
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2. TEACHING EVERY HOUR OF THE DAY.
Moses spoke these words just before Israel entered the Promised Land. The nation’s new future was beginning; but that future rested very much on the children. The Lord had made a covenant of grace with the whole nation: parents and children. But the parents had the responsibility of bringing up these children for the Lord. With us too, promises of grace are given to believers and their families. But there is also a responsibility to train children for the Lord.
Whose responsibility is it?
The parents or the church? Many people seem to think it is the church. Anyway many parents appear to be ‘passing the buck’ to the church. But God says it is the parents’ task. Verse 7: “…and you (parents) shall teach them diligently to your children.” And this is not just an Old Testament idea which is now out-of-date. In Ephesians 6:4 we read, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord.” Child training is the parents’ task, especially the fathers. Mothers have a vital part to play, but if a father shirks his responsibilities, children will get the idea that Christ is not for ‘he-men’ as they want to be (boys), or as they want their future husband to be (girls).
Parents are to have special times of instruction for their children. They are to be taught diligently, perhaps at the table. But that is not all. The Lord must be spoken of in the home all the time, and everything relayed to Him. Verse 7b: “you shall talk of them (God’s words) when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” That is, ALL the time! It should be spontaneously natural to speak of the Lord. It should be as natural as the weather (which God sends), or as money (which God gives). It should be as natural to speak of the Creator of nature as about nature itself. Both belong together: naturally. And it can be natural if Christ has written His law on your heart. But still, even though it may be on the heart, we may need some discipline to bring it out on to our lips. We can’t just say, “O I don’t feel like speaking of the Lord.” Also it is not enough just to speak of the Lord on Sundays, or at the table. It must flow out of us all the time.
Educators now realise that it is not just the WORDS you speak in formal teaching that effects children. Children want to see that you mean what you say. If the Lord is not a part of your whole conversation, they will probably wonder if you really love Him! Children must be brought up to love the Lord from the heart too. So teaching must be heart to heart from you to them.
So parents: the task is yours. But where does the church come in? Has the church something to do too? Yes, the church has the important task of adding to the parents. However it is of secondary importance to the parents. This should even be obvious from the amount of time children spend in, say, catechism classes, or in Sunday School. You can only make a small impression in an hour a week.
Summing up: the church is not out to do the parent’s job for them. It would not be right. God says that is the parents’ task. Anyway it would be impossible in such a short time. But in such things as Catechism classes the church must have cooperation from the parents. You as parents delegate your responsibilities to the teachers of these classes as you do with school during the week. You need to be satisfied with what is happening. And you need to know what the children are doing, and go through it with them. We are all busy, but according to God’s Word, this is a high priority for parents.
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3. GODLINESS IN EVERY PART OF LIFE.
I have already said that religion starts in the heart and effects our speech. Verses 8 and 9 go on to say true religion must pervade ALL we do: “And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
The Jews of later times took these words literally, and still do. They write out these verses, and some others, on a little scroll. This scroll is placed in a little leather box which is then tied to the hand. A similar thing is done with a little box on the forehead. So they think they have God’s word in their hand, and between their eyes.
These people fall into the trap men often fall into: they select the symbol instead of the real thing. This is a poor substitute for what God really wants. These words are to be interpreted figuratively. The HAND represents action. Just think of all the things you do with your hands: you hold your knife and fork, drive your car, push the mower, shake hands, paint, write, clean and so on. “All of life is religion.” Let everything you do be controlled by God’s Word. Love for the Lord should pervade your every action. For example, if you push a mower muttering to yourself, “This stupid grass; why must it keep growing like this?” – well, the love of God is not really at work in you. Moreover if your son sees you pushing the mower with that pained look on your face, and muttering to yourself, what then? You know that small children copy even the slightest thing.
The next phrase about the eyes has a similar idea. Sometimes you see photos of Mrs. Ghandi where you can see a caste mark on her forehead. Being there it is very prominent and noticeable. We don’t put ornaments between our eyes, but if we did we would get plenty of attention for that ornament. So the Word of God is to be as “frontlets between your eyes”. Such a force in your life, that everyone, including your children, can see it.
The principle is further elaborated in verse 9: “And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates. The idea is not that you hang a Scripture text on your front gate. Rather it is this: your front gate marks the beginning of your living area. Your whole life is lived out behind that gate. God’s Word is to so pervade all your house, or farm, or business, that it becomes very obvious to everyone who is Lord of your life, and what principles you live by. Everything you do, even those ordinary little things, is to be done out of love for the Lord. Your children will see this too, and will be impressed that you are genuine and do indeed love the Lord.
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We have been thinking of “a Continuing Church”. And we know that the future of the church is, in many ways, tied up with the children. Proper training of young people is therefore vital.
Our text gives a three-point formula to parents:
1. There must be love for the Lord from the heart. From deep within, you must serve willingly the One Lord in the way he wants. This can only happen by the power of the one Christ within.
2. You must teach the children every hour of the day. Not just in formal instruction, but also in spontaneous chatter about the Lord, and about everything as related to the Lord. This teaching is, first of all, the parent’s responsibility.
3. There must be godliness in every part of life. It must start with the heart and pervade all of life. Only then will it be genuine. Only then will it impress the children too.
Amen.