PART TWO: What Should We be Sharing?

I’m sure most of us recognize we need to be doing a more effective job of sharing the
Lord in the family, but maybe we are a little bit confused as to what we are supposed to
be sharing. It is interesting to me to notice that the verses preceding the command to
share with the family in Deuteronomy 6. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD
is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts."
(Deuteronomy 6:4-6).

There are three things that Moses mentioned in these verses, which were of utmost
importance to the children of Israel. I suggest that these principles were the
foundational concepts that God wanted parents to share with their children in their
sitting, their walking along the road, their lying down and their getting up.

1. They were to teach their children that God is one. The number one spiritual problem
facing Israel was the problem of competing deities. People, who worshipped kind of heathen
gods the fertile mind of man could invent, surrounded them. The pagan people were
polytheists – which means they worshipped many gods. They virtually had a god for every
unique need and season. But the children of Israel were to teach their children that there
is one God. He is almighty. He is complete within self. He has no competitors. When He
speaks, His word is the last word. You don’t negotiate with God; you submit to Him. That’s
where family education starts. The one, true and living God is the foundation of the
family. He is holy; He is sovereign; He is in charge. To put it somewhat crudely, He is
the boss.

2. They were to teach their children to love God. That means more than simply teaching
your children to have spot for God deep down inside their hearts. It was complete devotion
to God – heart, soul and strength. In other words, we need to teach our children to love
God with all they had to give. There’s an old story about an Indian chief who wanted to
become a Christian. He went to the missionary and said, "I want to become a Christian
and here is my blanket." The missionary said, "That won’t do." The chief
said, "I want to serve God. Here is my pony." The missionary said, "That
won’t do either." So the chief said, "I really want to serve God. You can have
my teepee." The missionary said, "And that won’t do either." Finally, in
desperation, the poor chief said, "Here take the poor Indian.  There’s nothing
left to give." The missionary smiled and said, "That’s what God wants."

3. They were to teach their children to have the commandments of God upon their hearts.
Obedience is not a popular subject these days. We would rather feel our way to God. When
we’re leading our children, we’re afraid to make the task sound too demanding for fear
they might not want to follow. One of the symptoms or our national disease is a tendency
to demand the fruits of success without paying the price of success. I hear coaches, all
the way from the high school level to the professional level, complain because their
athletes claim practice times are too long, discipline is too strict, and expectations are
too high. Why should an athlete have to turn in homework on time or study for tests? It’s
almost as if some think that the school exists for sports and sports exist for the game.
Practice is unfair. 

That same kind of attitude spills over into our attitude God. We profess to have a
passion for God. We want to claim his blessings, but we resist his obligation. We want to
hear the message of grace, but we don’t want to hear the message of discipline. Tell us
about salvation, but don’t burden us with the demands of servanthood. We don’t seem to
clearly comprehend the fact that the secret to an ultimately satisfying relationship with
God is to make sure the commandments are in our hearts. We’ve got to be like the Psalmist
was in Psalm 119:34 ‘Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all
my heart." That’s not legalism. Legalism is when you are trying to make points with
God by doing so much. A legalist isn’t even interested in why God wants him to obey. He
just wants to get the obeying over and done with, so he can put that distasteful chore
behind him. The Psalmist talked about an obedience that comes from understanding. He
promotes obedience that flows from a heart that has a passion for God. When you can
understand why God wants you to behave in a certain way, then you can obey with all your
heart and it will be much easier to talk with your children about obedience. If you want
your children to have a passion for God, it must be obvious to them and that’s something
you can’t fake or create in some artificial way. If it’s not real, they’re going to figure
it out.

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