The Importance of The Home

Temple Baptist Church - 10-16-2013

 

Colossians 3:18-21

 

Introduction:

A. In Colossians, we have been preaching on the unity of the local church. It is of no coincidence that, while speaking of the things which bring about unity in the local church, Paul begins to deal with the home life of the members. I cannot stress too much the importance of our homes. Satan has done a number on the homes in America. Marriages are breaking up or being traded for living together. Many marriages and homes are in shambles. Why? Because they are not founded right, they are not ordered right, or both.

B. I heard somewhere a statement that goes somewhat like this: “As goes the home, so goes the church; as goes the home, so goes the nations.” There will never be unity in the local church without unity in our homes. If we are out of God’s will at home, then we will be out of sorts in the local church.

C. Did you know that:

1. 73 percent of black children are born out of wedlock.

2. 66 percent of Native American children including Alaska’s Eskimos.

3. 53 percent of Hispanic children.

4. 29 percent of white children.

5. 17 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander children.

D. Homes in general are places of strife instead of peace and, for the most part, they eventually become broken homes! Several years ago, I prefaced my message on the subject of the home with Bro. Craig Ledbetter’s preface for his series on the home. Here it is again because it gets straight to the point concerning the degeneration of the home.

“We are a “homeless” generation! Fifty years ago it would have been impossible to conceive of the devastation to family life that is spreading throughout the world. One magazine article stated, “We are fast becoming a homeless race. We are born in hospitals, raised in daycares, taught in schools, married in churches, we vacation in resorts, we entertain our friends in restaurants, we die in hospitals, and are buried via funeral parlours. To most families, home is a dull place that family members resort to for the minimum of sleep, a rushed meal, or to wait for the return of the family car before heading out again! The homes that we do have, that we live in, are crumbling under the weights of sin, and human failures!”

E. The institution of the home preceded all others in Genesis 2-3. We need to stress what God stresses and He stressed the importance of the home first and foremost. Just a few things for tonight:

1. The Importance Of The Home

a. The Home Is Important To Our Spouses (a haven of peace and rest in a wicked and weary world)

b. The Home Is Important To Our Children (a nest of safety, stability, provision, and instruction)

c. The Home Is Important To Our Churches (a type of the relationship of Jesus Christ to His Church)

d. The Home is Important To Our Nation (a stabilizing force in unstable days)

e. The Home is Important To The Lord (He established it in wisdom)

2. The Establishment Of The Home – Genesis 2:18-25

a. The Home: A Place Of Companionship “It is not good that the man should be alone”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone?

b. The Home: A Place Of Divine Order “I will make him an help meet”

1 Corinthians 11:3, 7-9 But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God … For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man.

c. The Home: A Place Of Completion “An help meet for him”

Proverbs 18:22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.

1 Corinthians 11:7 For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

d. The Home: A Place Of Oneness “He took one of his ribs … bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh”

1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

e. The Home: A Place Of Approval “Brought her unto the man”

Genesis 1:27-28 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

f. The Home: A Place Of Division “Leave his father and his mother”

Proverbs 5:18 Let thy fountain be blessed: and rejoice with the wife of thy youth.

Genesis 24:58-59 And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go. And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant, and his men.

g. The Home: A Place Of Cleaving “Cleave unto his wife” (to stick with or to stay close to)

Matthew 19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Romans 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

h. The Home: A Place Of Union “They shall be one flesh”

Ephesians 5:31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

Genesis 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

i. The Home: A Place Of Beauty “And were not ashamed”

Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. (Intimacy outside of marriage is dirty, defiling, and to be hidden in the dark – Intimacy in the marriage is beautiful and fulfilling.)