The Love of Jesus for the Home
The Love of Jesus for the Home
Dr. J. Mike Minnix, Editor, www.pasorlife.com
Introduction
John 19:25-27
It seems that the home is disappearing in America, at least the home is not considered sacred as in the days of the past. I want us to consider love today as it relates to our appreciation for our homes and families. To do that, we are going to look at something Jesus did in His dying moments on the cross. It tells us a lot about His regard for the home and the commitment we ought to have for it as well. Look with me at John's Gospel, chapter 19 and verses 25, 26, and 27.
- When God was ready to populate the world, He created marriage and the home.
- When God was ready to save the world from the flood, He did so through the home of Noah.
- When God was ready to establish a nation through which He could send the Savior, He chose the home of Abraham.
- When God was ready to come in human form to live among us, He chose a home into which to send Him - the home of Mary and Joseph.
Today we want to focus on Christ and His concentration upon the home. Look with me at John 19:25-27. This passage may seem a strange place to begin to examine Jesus' attention on the family, but actually there is no place more fitting, as I am sure you will see and agree.
Jesus was on the cross and His life was ebbing away. The very Son of God was dying before the eyes of His mother and others who stood around the cross. We do not have to wonder what was on the mind of Christ as He was dying because He spoke several times, and the words He uttered revealed his heart. On one occasion, while Jesus was hanging in great pain and agony upon the cross, he spoke to his mother and to His disciple John. He, in essence, told His mother that she was to take up residence with John, and He told John to accept Mary as his mother. Jesus, in these last moments of life, was thinking about His mother and the fact that she needed a home.
From this point of reference, let us draw out some conclusions. There are five things which are worth noting regarding Christs' love for the home!
I. His Arrival in a Home
We note that Jesus spoke to His mother, Mary. The fact that Jesus had a mother tells us of His birth and the fact that God's Son was born into and grew up in a home. Our minds go back to that night in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born. But actually, we must go back even further in order to gain the insight we need today. You see, the arrival of Jesus was preceded by God's plan to bring Him into the world. It was a plan before the foundation of the world, and it involved a home and family life for the Savior.
Once a lady from a former church that I pastored sat down beside a woman holding a very small baby. The church member felt she should say something to the mother holding her infant, and she spoke before she thought. She asked the mother, "How old was your baby when it was born?" It was an embarrassing moment, because we all know how old a baby is when it is born - brand, spanking new!
It goes without saying that we begin to count years of life from birth, however, the life of a baby begins before birth. I do not believe there is a person thinking rightly who would for a moment say that Jesus was less than human, and for that matter less than God, when He was in Mary's womb. My strongest sense that abortion is wrong comes from the fact that Jesus was not plopped down on Mary's lap as a fully developed baby, but was conceived in her by the Holy Spirit. God thought it important for Jesus to be a zygote, an embryo, a fetus and then a fully born boy child. Do you think that Jesus was only piece of tissue after He was conceived of the Holy Spirit? Certainly He was the Son of God, even in Mary's womb.
But Jesus was uniquely different also in another way. You could actually ask in good faith how old Jesus was at His birth (and for that matter, how old He was at His conception). Jesus was preexistent. He always was! He always has been. He always will be! He was with God before the foundation of the earth was laid. Yet, he left heaven and came to us in human form. His human existence began when He was concieved in Mary, but He had been around forever before than happened. Yes, He was very unique but God still had a plan for Him to be a baby, a child, an adolescent and eventually a man. Those of us who are cognizant of scripture know that Jesus experienced this process so that He might qualify as having gone through every trial that any of us face, and thereby serve as the perfect Savior who carried our sins away at Calvary.
Still, the Godhead thought the home so important that the very Son of God was to be born in a natural way and to grow up in a family. His arrival tells us that Christ cared for the home and would grace a little home in Bethlehem and eventually in Nazareth with His presence. Surely this tells us that God loves the home.
Since the Father put such an important emphasis on a home for the Son, don't you think we ought to consider the home as being of divine importance today? If Jesus needed a home, how much more does every boy and girl need a loving home in which to be reared? Our society is suffering today because we have disregarded the critical nature of marriage, family and the home.
I small girl and her father ended up in a rescue shelter. One of the mission leaders at the shelter spoke the girl saying, "I sure am sorry you don't have a home." The little girl looked surprised and said, "We have a home, we just don't have a place to put it right now."
Jesus grew up in a blue collar family, without the luxuries we might have planned for Him had we been in charge of things. But, it is apparent that He left a home in heaven for a home on earth. It is interesting that all of us who repent of our sins and accept Him as Savior and Lord, leave a earthly home to live in His heavenly home (John 14:1-6). In the end, we can say without equivation, God places great importance on the home!
II. His Attention upon the Home
When Jesus had grown to manhood, He entered into His public ministry and from the very beginning He put great importance upon the home. For example, we notice that the first miracle He performed was in a home, at a wedding feast, in Cana of Galilee. It is more than interesting that His first miracle was related to marriage and family activity.
Jesus gave great attention to the home. He wept at the tomb of Lazarus because he saw the family and friends overcome with grief. Jesus taught in parable form that the Christian life was like a man who built his house upon a rock instead of sinking sand (Matthew 7). Jesus delivered what may well be called his best-loved parable in Luke 15 when he told of a man with two sons. One of them went away to a far country and wasted his inheritance in sinful living. When the boy came to himself, he returned home. In this parable Jesus relates how the father ran to meet the prodigal, how he planted kisses on the boy's eck and how he restored him to his place in the family.
In John 14 Jesus compared heaven to a home. He told his disciples that His Father's House was a place of many mansions and that one was prepared for them. In Revelation 3 we read of Jesus standing at the door of a home knocking and seeking entrance. In this passage the human heart is compared to a home that Jesus desires to enter and occupy.
Again and again Jesus gave attention to the home in His teaching and preaching. Whether in figurative language or direct instruction, Jesus dealt with the home with passion and love.
Yes, and Jesus spoke about divorce saying, "What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." He revealed that the Father's desire was for marriage and the home to be a sacred place. Your home is just as sacred as your church! We ought to honor and love the home in the same way that Jesus loved and honored it.
III. His Accommodation for the Home
Jesus always accommodated the home life in his schedule. On one occasion parents brought their children to Jesus for Him to bless them (Matthew 19:14). The disciples wanted to stop them but Jesus instructed the disciples to let the little ones come to Him. Jesus had time for troubled mothers and fathers, and their little children. He took seriously the upbringing of children in the home and desired to have parents understand how much He cared about this everyday part of human life. Seeing the Son of God care that much about little children, and about their parents, ought to tell us that we need to place a premium on making our homes places of love, goodness, godliness and affirmation. Sadly, that is not happening in the home life of people in America these days. The collapse of marriage, the neglect of children and the abuse of family members is higher than it has ever been in our society. Oh, that we might come back to the kind of love for the family that Jesus revealed when He was on this earth, and the kind of love God's Word teaches on the subject.
I must tell you that I fear a curse on a nation that allows so many little babies to be cut, torn and sliced from the wombs of their mothers. When I think of Planned Parenthood selling baby parts to pad their banks accounts, I tremble. We must place a great value on the unborn, as well as those little ones within our communities, churches and families. If Jesus welcomed them, surely we must do the same.
IV. His Affirmation to the Home
Jesus affirmed the home in our text. He revealed that the home should be uppermost in our thoughts and prayers, even during the most difficult personal times of lives. Even while Jesus was dying, He thought about His mother. Often we use the excuse for not behaving properly in the home on the stress of our lives. Interestingly, Jesus was going through an experience of stress that we cannot imagine while He was on the cross. The sins of the world were upon Him. His Father was turning His back on His Son for our sakes. Jesus was bearing all of that for us, but He still thought about His home - about His mother and the home she needed! There is no excuse for not showing God's love in our homes under all conditions.
V. His Affection toward the Home
Jesus loved the home and no right thinking person can deny this truth. He loves your home and desires to bless it. He wants your home to be a place of peace, growth, blessing, happiness and partnership. He wants to come into your home and be the unseen guest at every meal, the silent listener to every conversation, and the up-lifter of every family member.
Let us dedicate our homes to Christ. Let us acknowledge that there is no one who can deliver our homes from failure, direct our homes in the right path, and dedicate our homes toward the best for every family member like Jesus! Let us cast ourselves at His feet as did the sinner woman who brought precious ointment in the home and poured it over the Lord. It was said that the sweet smell of that perfume could be enjoyed throughout the house and even down the by-ways of the town. Let us learn at his feet as did Mary when Jesus was in the home of Lazarus, when she listen intently to Him.
So, bring your home to the Lord today. Husband and wife can come and renew your commitment to Christ. The single mother or father can come and ask God to bless your home. Hardly a person here today can say that you don't need God's love to premeate and prosper your home.
Also, all of us must leave the world one day. Where will your home be then. Jesus prepares a home for those who trust Him, and He told us that clearly in John 14. Come to Him now. If you don't know the Lord as your Savior, you can trust Him now by turning from your own way and giving Him your heart and life. He will bless you home here on earth and prepare you a home with Him when you die.
Extra Illustration:
Many years ago near the royal English residence on the isle of Wight stood several homes for the poor and aged. A missionary, visiting some of the elderly people, asked a lady, "Does Queen Victoria ever call on you here?"
"Oh, yes," was the answer, "Her Majesty frequently comes to see us."
Then, wondering if the woman was a Christian, the missionary inquired, "What about the King of kings?"
The lady immediately smiled and replied, "No, sir, He doesn't visit here ‑ He lives here. That's why we're so richly blessed!"
If Christ resides in your heart, He should preside in your home.
Priority of a Father
'Honey, I love you. Tell the kids to study hard.'
"In isolation these are not extraordinary words," writes Gary Bauer, "but they took on special meaning when they were spoken on nationwide television in a moment of high stress. In the early days of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, the Iraqi leadership heartlessly paraded captured pilots on that country's government‑run network. "My heart broke for these men as my family and I, secure in our own home, watched the drama unfold on the screen. One captured pilot in particular left a lasting impression on me. His face was swollen from injuries received in the aircraft crash as well as being pummeled by Saddam Hussein's thugs. Fearing for his life, he followed the Iraqi script and unemotionally mumbled a few words of propaganda into the television camera. But then he seized the chance to add those otherwise mundane words: 'Honey, I love you. Tell the kids to study hard.' "In four short words, a husband assured a waiting wife that no matter how many miles separated them, and no matter what danger threatened him, his love for her was the first priority in his mind. In six more words, the children were reminded that they still had a dad that he wanted them to work hard, to achieve the most they could. It was dramatic display of the love of a father and a testament to the power of heart and home. "For most of us, the values expressed by that captured POW are the values that motivate and give meaning to our day‑to‑day lives. These are the reasons we get up in the morning to tackle another day. These are the reasons we work hard, save, sacrifice, and when it does not seem possible to go on - we do it all over again. These are the ties that bind." [Pulpit Helps, Jun 1993. Pages 1+.]
The Importance of a Godly Home
The Christian home is the seedbed from which springs personal piety and much of the vitality of both church and state. Richard Baxter discovered this truth in a very practical way. As a young preacher he was called to a large parish composed primarily of people who seemed more interested in their social status than in understanding and obeying the Word of God. Baxter was disturbed by the spiritual coldness of his parishioners and found his work extremely difficult. After much prayer and heart‑searching to know the will of God, the young pastor was confident that he had received the answer. "I believe the way to save the church and this community," he said to a friend," is to establish family altars in the homes of my members." He spent the next 3 years in visitation, earnestly pleading with his people to set aside a time each day for prayer and Bible study. Soon his congregation began to catch fire with a new zeal for God. Those who rededicated their homes exerted such a strong spiritual influence that his church was revived and was being filled with sturdy saints and receptive hearts. His ministry became increasingly effective because many of his people had followed the example of the patriarch Joshua who declared unequivocally ... "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
Tell Them I'll Come As Fast As I Can!
The 18th‑century English pastor Rowland Hill lived to a ripe old age. In fact, he outlived most of his friends. Missing them very much and anxious to join them on the other side, he grew more homesick for heaven with each passing day. It seemed so long since some of them had gone to glory that he would often jokingly say with a wink, "Do you think they'll remember me?" It was not unusual for him to go to some other believer well along in years with this request: "If you should go before I do, give my love to everyone. Be sure to tell them that old Rowley, although staying behind a little while, is coming on as fast as he can."
Home for Christmas
In December 1903, after many attempts, the Wright brothers were successful in getting their "flying machine" off the ground. Thrilled they telegraphed this message to their sister Katherine: "We have actually flown 120 feet. Will be home for Christmas." Katherine hurried to the editor of the local newspaper and showed him the message. He glanced at it and said, "How nice. The boys will be home for Christmas." He totally missed the big news - man had flown! Many people today make a similar mistake when they hear the word Christmas. They don't think of Jesus and His miraculous birth. Instead, they think of family, gatherings, festive meals, decorations, and gifts. But if that's all that Christmas means to us, we are missing its true significance.