The Bible In The Home
2 Tim. 3:14-15.

We take for granted the freedom to keep as many copies of the Bible as we wish in our homes and we would protest loudly if this privilege were threatened.
But we need to do more than have copies of the Bible in our homes. Our homes need to be places where the Bible is important in the real life of the home.
a. In too many of our families, we have little to do with the Bible except in connection with the
Bible classes or worship services of the local congregation.
(A) Studying the Bible, and talking about it, need to be a vital part of our daily home life.
(1) In Israel God always required His Word to be studied and talked about in the home
(a) Do you know what God said about Abraham, in Gen. 18:19, “For I have
known him, (God made a special effort to know Abraham. Why?) in order
that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may
keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may
bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him.”
In Israel, parents were to talk to their children about God and their history with God: The plagues in Egypt, Exo. 10:1-2, The Passover, Exo. 12:26-27, The law of the firstborn, Exo. 13:14-15, God’s speaking from Sinai, Deut. 4:9-10, The law of God, Deut. 6:20?25, The memorial stones placed at the River Jordan, Josh. 4:4-7.
God things were talked about, not just at special “religious” times, but during the ordinary activities of daily living in the home.
What are you telling your children when you restrict talk about God to set times? God never taught His people that kind of thing. Deut. 6:6-9, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit
in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you
rise up...”
God intended the Home as the primary place where your children learn the Bible. Surely you don’t think they will learn much about God one hour a week on Sunday. That is no substitute for learning the text and the truths of the Bible in the home. Prov. 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.” Whose responsibility is that? Eph. 6:4, answers that question, “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”
Fathers are given the specific responsibility for the spiritual training of their children. One of the biggest problems in the church is the widespread failure of fathers in this. In many instances their God?given role of spiritual leadership in the home has been abandoned.
2. Fathers don’t take the time because they don’t have the inclination, or the ability or just don’t make make the time to teach their children the Bible.
Col. 3:21, commands, “Fathers, do not provoke (Frustrate) your children, lest they become discouraged.” Your children depend on you for guidance and giving them the security of knowing their souls are safe and not in jeopardy. You owe your children that kind of security and peace of mind.

(1) But more than being a place where the contents of the Bible are to be learned, the home is the ideal place for the truth of the Bible to be learned in real?life situations and relationships.
(2) Home is where we most often pass beyond “knowing” the truths of the Bible, to knowing they are true at the practical every day living of life.
(3) Home is where we most often learn “the truth of God's truths.” Home is where the truths of God’s word are not only taught, but modeled, illustrated, and brought to life. Without that mentoring your children grow up in the world greatly disadvantaged. Spiritually handicapped.
Why would Christians keep the most important and useful thing in their homes in the back of the closet? Common phrase today is being “in the closet.” It describes homosexual, sodomites, lesbians, child molestors and perverts who don’t want people to know their true nature. They are ashamed of what they are and want to hide what they are. And rightly they should be.
(4) The only reason anyone would be a “closet Christian” is because they are ashamed of their Christianity. And that’s not right.
(5) We are proud of the fact that we provide our children with the physical necessities of life, Send them to school and prepare them to be adults and leave them a legacy of a good name and an inheritance.
(6) And they will have many wonderful childhood memories of home.
3. But how does the Bible fit into those concerns we have for our children?
(1) Will the bible have any place in the memories our children will have of home?
(2) The apostle Paul talks about that very thing when he writes to Timothy and says in
2 Tim. 1:5, “When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt
first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you
also.” Then he adds, this comment in 2 Tim.3:14?15, “But you must continue in
the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have
learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are
able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
(1) Our attitude should be exactly as David’s in PS. 78:4-8. How does the Bible fit into the hearts, lives and futures of our loved ones?
(2) May we not be guilty before the throne of God because we hid him from our most
precious possessions. May the Bible be continually in our hearts and in our
homes.
(3) Acts 20:32.

Spur - 04/21/2002 am