We have a crisis of values in American society today. On many fronts, we are seeing the breakdown of Judeo-Christian values. The sanctity of human life is being traded for sensual gratification without consequence through abortion and for convenience through euthanasia. We are seeing the sanctity of marriage traded for a redefinition of marriage. We are seeing Christian parents quietly allowing their children’s sports teams to pull the entire family away from the vital worship, discipleship, fellowship, and ministry at church and toward the silly pursuit of a little league field of dreams. We are seeing the Christian value of selflessness replaced by the consumer value of selfishness. We have a crisis of values in American society today. And did you know most of America agrees? In a March 2005 MSNBC pole, persons were asked, “Would you say that things in the country are going in the right direction or have they pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track?” 79% of people on the web and 56% of people by telephone said things were going in the wrong direction.
But it is not enough to stomp and scream about the problem. If there is a problem, we need to fix it. But how? How do we fix such a huge cultural value problem? How do we stop a tsunami of godless values from destroying our world, our nation, our state, our community, and our homes? How do we fix it?
There are numerous suggestions. Some people point to the politicians. It’s the philosophy that says, “Start with the top and work your way down.” These people believe if we elect the right people, the values will change. Maybe, but it’s more basic than that.
Some people point to local churches. It’s the philosophy that says, “Start with the religious community and work your way out.” They believe that if the church will fight the culture war, values will change. These people are getting warmer, but it’s more basic than even that.
There are all kinds of other options. But there is only one strategy for fixing the problem that will really do the job. Here this today: values will change if and only if we follow the biblical strategy. What is that strategy? Where does God point? God points to the family. His strategy is one home, one family at a time. God says, “Start at the bottom and work your way up.” This strategy is basic, but it is powerful. It sounds simplistic, but it works.
For several weeks now, we’ve been making over our homes in an effort to makeover our families into righteous families. So far, we’ve told our story and admitted that we all have room for improvement because we all have imperfect families. Next, we took after our homes with our sledgehammers and started sledging away things from our personal lives and our homes. Then we took some time to look at the plans and committed to follow the plans. Last week, we started moving through the home room by room, making over each space. We started with the kitchen. We talked about the need for the nourishment of unconditional love in the home. In this message, we’re moving into the living room. Why in a discussion of cultural values do we move into the living room? Because in 21st century homes, values are determined and developed in the living room.
In our homes today, values are taught in the living room. How? Values are taught every day by the great value teacher of the 21st century – the television. All but 2% of American homes have at least one television, and most homes have at least 2 televisions. Most of these homes display their television in a prominent place in their living room. In fact, the furniture in many living rooms or family rooms is arranged around the television. We gather around this box and effectively say, “Oh great one, entertain me, teach me, guide me.”
Americans watch 1 billion hours of television each day. The average American watches nearly 4 hours of television daily. Children and teens today likely spend more time in front of the television than they do any other activity. Even though our children spend seven or eight hours a day at school during nine months of the year, they actually spend more time in front of the television. One report indicates that 18 year olds spend some 1500 hours a year before the television, compared with 900 hours in school.
Television’s influence on us is subtle and reinforced by the repetition of images and stereotypes. It is a known fact that the more you hear something, the more you believe it to be fact or the norm. The values television teaches are repeated at such a rate that a local church could never counter them no matter how numerous or effective our programs and ministries.
The other day I watched a re-run of the 1980s sit-com, Golden Girls. That episode dealt with one of the girls having a friend who was a lesbian. In the episode, the script writers had to define what a lesbian was. As I watched I thought, “How far we’ve come – in a bad way.” Everyone today knows what a lesbian is and many people think it’s perfectly natural! Now we have numerous television shows with openly gay couples. There’s still a bit of spoof to these relationships, but as the message is repeated more and more, I expect these relationships will become less comedy and more real-life drama. But in 1980, you had to define the word.
I’ve got to hand it to them; the slow, methodical agenda has worked. They’re winning, and we’re losing. Other godless values are winning out as well. Why? Because we’re trying to fight the battle the wrong way. They’re fighting the right way. We’re trying to do it one politician at a time or one church at a time. They’re focusing on one person, one family at a time through the television in one living room at a time. The process is slow and methodical, but it is incredibly effective. Why? Because they’re using the best plan out there. In fact, it’s God’s type of plan! Isn’t it interesting that they are using God’s type of plan, and we are not? How tragic!
If we want to make big changes in our homes, we need to regain biblical values and build righteous families. If we want to do that, we need to makeover our living rooms because the living room is the place where values are determined and developed.
You see, the problem is not that values are taught in the living room, the problem is what values are taught. The living room is exactly where God wanted values to be determined and developed.
From the time God selected a nation for himself through whom He would bless the world, God pointed to the importance of the home in determining and developing His values. Deuteronomy 11 is our text.
Let me set the context for this passage. The word “Deuteronomy” means “repetition of the law.” In the book of Deuteronomy we have a repetition and compilation of the law delivered by God to Moses as recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. In those three books, laws are given at various intervals during the wilderness wanderings. In Deuteronomy, the wanderings are over, and Israel finally stands at the edge of the Promised Land. Moses rehearses and expounds the laws in anticipation of and with application for life in the new land.
In chapter 11, Moses is encouraging the people to love and obey the Lord their God, for it is to their benefit to do so. Moses exhorts the people to consider the Lord’s discipline so that they may be strong.
I feel the Lord leading us specifically to Deuteronomy 11:16-21 as our focal text this morning. In the verses immediately preceding our text, God says if the people will be faithful to the commands He is giving them, God will bless them. Then he shifts to a warning, which begins our focal text:
Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the LORD is giving you (Deuteronomy 11:16-17).
The Israelites needed to heed this warning. Remember, they are about to enter the Promised Land where they will encounter all types of peoples who serve all types of false gods. Israel had a bit of a problem with forsaking God when the going got tough or a seemingly better option came along. So, given their propensity to apostasy, God warns them that they will be tempted to follow other gods. If they do, God says, He will be angry, and instead of being blessed, they will be cursed – not a good situation!
Just as Israel needed to heed this warning, so we must heed it today. God says to us, “Be careful or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them.” “Really? What gods?,” you may ask. “I don’t see many Americans bowing down to stone idols.” It seems ridiculous in our culture. True. However, every day we are enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. Every day our great values teacher pushes us to anything but the one true God. More often than not, it makes us god, tapping into the desires of the flesh that Paul lists for us in Galatians 5. Look at this list, it’s scary how television and our culture tap into these desires:
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;
idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21).
Sounds like most talk shows, reality shows, sit-coms, and prime-time dramas to me! Just as Israel, we are tempted every day by our culture to stray from God. And right now, culture is winning, but, hopefully, not for long.
You see, God does not stop with a warning, He tells us how to avoid the problems and fix the problems. He tells us exactly how to makeover our living room!
Let’s read on in Deuteronomy 11:18ff and discover three ways to makeover your living room:
Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates (Deuteronomy 11:18-20).
The first way God tells us we can makeover our living rooms is to focus on the word (v. 18)
Instead of focusing on the teaching of culture, we focus on the teaching of the word. That doesn’t mean that we only read the Bible and never watch television, but it means that the Bible has a much greater place in our lives. Currently, the Bible has little place in our lives.
Even though 20 million Bibles are sold annually in America, only 59% of people read the Bible at least casually – this is down from 73% in the 1980s. Less than half of Americans can name the first book of the Bible, and ¼ do not know what is celebrated on Easter. Despite the talk about how important the Ten Commandments are to the moral health of American society, 6 out of 10 Americans cannot name half of the commandments. In fact, even Christians don’t know what’s in the Bible and what’s not. George Barna notes that 80% of born again Christians believe the saying, “God helps those that help themselves” is in the Bible. But it is not, unless your Bible has a book penned by Benjamin Franklin. Even more, 1/3 of Americans do not know who delivered the Sermon on the Mount, many think it was Billy Graham!
I hope the Bible has a primary place in your life. I am encouraged by the number of people in our congregation who have committed to read through the Bible this year. The tree in the back of the sanctuary that was bare in January is full of leaves, pointing to the fact that hundreds of books of the Bible have been read by this congregation since January 1.
If the word of God is not a focus for your family, make it one. We must focus on the word if we want to makeover our homes.
When you focus on the word, you start seeing the world through a biblical worldview. It’s like having biblical sunglasses on. When you see something – good or bad – it’s filtered through those glasses and you see a biblical truth. That truth is then reinforced in your own heart and you can reinforce it in the hearts of your spouse and children.
The word should be so much a part of our lives that it is fixed in our minds and hearts. When this happens the word will so affect our actions that it will be like we have the word tied to our hands. Also, the word will so affect our thoughts that it will be like we have the word bound on our foreheads.
The second way God tells us we can makeover our living rooms is to talk about the word (v. 19).
Parents, wherever you go, whatever you do, teach the word – when you sit at home, when you walk along the road, when you get up. Use the biblical worldview you are developing through focusing on the word to then help those around you develop the same kind of worldview. Use the Bible, other books, and other media to instill the word in yourself and your children. Interject biblical truths and values into routine everyday life. This becomes easier to do when you are walking with your biblical sunglasses on.
You may even turn the television off and talk – or talk about something you just watched on television. Maybe it is totally contrary to the word. When the show is over, turn the television off and use that moment to spark a conversation about the issue raised. Whatever the case, you’ve got to talk. Communication is vital.
A few weeks ago Rebecca and I visited with Gerre and Jo in Decatur. We just sat and talked. Gerre said something that night that wasn’t all that brilliant but that has stuck in my mind ever since, “People don’t do this enough anymore – just sit around and talk.” It’s true. We don’t do it enough.
Conversation develops comradery and intimacy. The more you talk, the more you get to know a person, the more you open up to that person. Often one topic leads to another topic, one hurt leads to another hurt, or one joy to another joy. You end up growing closer together. How great that is when it is a parent and child talking or a spouse and spouse talking. We need to find more ways to converse, especially about the word – whenever, wherever, and whatever we are doing.
The third way God tells us we can makeover our living rooms is to decorate with the word (v. 20a).
Instead of secular culture being our focus, God’s word should be our focus.
When Rebecca and I started talking about getting married, we both said, “We’re not having a preacher house with crosses and Jesus stuff everywhere. Let’s be normal.” Well, that was a good thought. But when you’re a minister and you have three showers at three different churches, well, you get lots of Jesus stuff. I can remember opening boxes and thinking, “Another cross – well, at least we won’t have to worry about vampires.” My favorite is a large silver cross. When I opened that package I said, “Hey, we can use this to spank our kids! It will bring a whole new meaning to ‘At the cross, at the cross where I first saw the light.’” Rebecca and I quickly realized – so much on the no Jesus stuff. Now, when you walk into our living room you will see a big pen and ink drawing of Jesus surrounded by what I affectionately call “cross land.” And, you know, I rather like it. There have been times when “cross land” has drawn my focus on a particularly rough day.
People in our churches have also given us little hangy-things and sit-around things. I can’t tell you how many times on a particularly rough day I’ve looked at this wood block of Jeremiah 29:11 that one of my pastors have me, or how often I’ve paused in our dining room to read through a pastor poem Peggy Hott and Joe Phillips gave me.
Even though our living room is arranged around the television, these decorations help me and Rebecca to remember that God and His values are our focus. That’s what God is getting at when He says, “Write them on the doorframes of your house and on your gates.” Surround yourself with the word.
But wait! We like our living room like it is already. It looks nice. Why do we need to make it over? What is the advantage? Is there an advantage? You bet! Consider v. 21:
So that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
What is the result? Blessing! “Focus on the word,” God says, “And I will bless you.” “Focus on secular culture, and I’ll curse you.” The choice seems pretty clear. With Joshua we should say, “Choose for yourself whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Friend, if we will do this, if we will follow God’s plan for fighting the culture war, however slow it may seem, we will win. If the millions of Christians in America would start developing righteous families with homes where they focused on the word, talked about the word, and decorated with the word, we would start to win. Twenty years from now we would see a different America. It could happen. The question is, “Will you do your part in making it happen.” Let’s choose God and change our culture one family at a time.
May our families bless God. And may God in turn bless our families.
