REVIEW:

•  God offers an invitation to all to believe and trust in him and his truth – his word
• Jesus calls those who believe his disciples – his learners, students, adherents, followers who learn to trust God, to be changed by him and to be partners with him in his mission
• As disciples we are on a journey with God – we learn and live along the way
• This journey includes every facet of our being and every sphere of our lives (see the 5 spheres graphic)
• Our life’s journey is to be with Jesus and others for his purposes – not by ourselves for our purposes
  • Therefore, the center sphere (relationship/environment) is our abiding relationship with Jesus, which in turn influences all the other spheres (relationships/environments) of our lives
  • Last Week: The first sphere of relationships with others that we are to understand we are a part of is the church sphere – the relationships and environments of other disciples in the family of God.
  • We learn about who we are and who God is, as we grow and participate in the family of God, as God has prescribed us to.
  • It is in this journey with God, learning to be his people, with his people, that we understand how to be his people in our own homes and families – the home & family sphere

We understand who we are to be – disciples of Jesus – in our own homes and families, when understand what it means to be in a disciple in God’s family – the body of Christ, the Church.

We understand what it means to have God in the center of our homes and families when we learn to understand what it means to be in the center of his home and family.

FROM THE TEXT – FOR THE HOME

What it looks like to be a disciple in the home:

Ephesians 4:32–5:2 (NIV) – 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 1Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:21 (NIV) – 21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Ephesians 5:22- 6:4 (NIV) – 22Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. 1Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— 3“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”4Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

1 Corinthians 7:8-9 (NIV) – 8Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. 9But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

1 Corinthians 7:32-34 (NIV) – 32I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he can please the Lord. 33But a married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife— 34and his interests are divided. An unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the Lord’s affairs: Her aim is to be devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit. But a married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world—how she can please her husband.

What God says that allows us to be a disciple in the home:

Genesis 1:26-31 (NIV) – 26Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”27So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”29Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. 31God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Genesis 2:15-25 (NIV) – 15The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” 18The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” 19Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.”24That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh. 25Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame…

Learning and trusting what God says about us along with the help of the Holy Spirit and others gives us the ability to live like disciples in our homes.

QUESTIONS:

• Are you in the family of God? Is today the day you accept the invitation?
• Do you believe what God says is true about you? That you are very good, made in his image, included in his body – the family of God – and empowered by him through the Holy Spirit to love as he loves? Why or why not? Who else may you be listening to and believing about your life that isn’t God?
• God says that who we are and how we love in the home is to be for his sake and not any other motivation. Who is the focus of your relationships in the home? Yourself? Your spouse? Your kids? Your parents? What would it look like to love on your home according to what God says and not what anyone else says?
• Who can you talk to about how things are going in the home? When can you have that talk?