Building Families 1 - Blueprints

Go ahead and close your eyes because I know you can repeat this without looking by now: FBC Fairburn is a diverse family of believers seeking to glorify God, make disciples, build families, and reach our community in ways that stretch beyond age, ethnicity, and status.

How did you do?

Over the past few months, we have spent time breaking down this mission statement into smaller, bite sized pieces. I am probably running the risk of being monotonously redundant with including this each week. However, I am convinced that as you and I embrace this as the fiber of our thoughts towards our church, then will we find areas where we can share what we do with people we interact with on a daily basis in a natural way.

If you were going to build a house, it would not be sufficient to sketch out the rough floor plan on a napkin and start building. The city or county inspector is going to require a set of blueprints. These sketches are professionally drawn by an architect who has worked with an engineer to verify the stability of the structure. It will include electrical and plumbing diagrams to supplement the location of the boards. Typically, they will include exterior sketches as well for the overall visual design of the architecture. These are called elevations, as they show how the house will “fit” on the natural landscape of the property with its slopes and tables.

In a similar fashion, the mission statement you read over each week is like the set of elevations. It shows the exterior and how we overlap the City of Fairburn. But, you and I know that our church is so much more than what is only visible on the outside. So, we look at the blueprints.

What is central to our mission here is the idea of building families. We have talked about who our family is and extensively about worshiping God as we make disciples. I believe that building families is the core of this. Next week we will talk about the external aspect of this, but for today, I want to share with you just a few ideas of its internal effect.

Deuteronomy 6 holds a passage that the Hebrews would have known as “the Shema”. Shema means “hear” and it is a call of Israel to hear the Word of God. Deut 6.4-9 provide a foundational framework for what it means to build families, highlighting the activities of loving God, teaching the Word of God to your children, and looking at the world through the Scripture.

Basically, to build a family internally means to instill within your family a biblical worldview. A worldview is more than just a perspective, but it is an interpretive grid through which all information is processed. It is a series of deeply held beliefs and convictions that shape who you are as a person and, therefore, how you interact with the world around you. A biblical worldview is more than just knowledge about what the Bible says. It consists of much more than just a few “Christian” statements or a couple of Bible verses on the wall or coffee mug. No, a biblical worldview is foundational to who you are and how you interact with the world.

This is why the Shema of Duet is huge. The words that God gave Moses call for the Word of God to be as “frontals on your foreheads” (NASB). Think of this as the blinders on a plow horse. These blinders kept the periphery out of view so that the horse could focus on the task at hand. Should the horse catch sight of hay, water, people, etc. to the left or to the right of the plow row, it would follow that sight. Similarly, the Word of God protects us from the wiles of the world that would cause us to stray to the left or to the right.

It also commands that the fathers take the lead in teaching their children the Word of God. Dads, listen to me just a moment (actually, read along and pretend my voice is reading aloud to you)…YOU are the primary instructor of your child’s heart. Mama is important and necessary in this task, but dad the family is not built if you are not actively part of this process. The family includes you, and is therefore dependent upon you for its building.

So, what are the basics you need your family to know? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2.2 “I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified” (NASB). Let this be the guide. Train your children and build your family around the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This will require you to speak of sin and our sinfulness, which will also oblige  you to deal with your own sinfulness. It will entail and understanding of why Jesus Christ had to die, but not just to forgive us, rather to allow us to live in righteousness…our ability to honor God with our lives! It demands that the Gospel goes out of your home through your children, your wife, and you into the world in need. And, it compels you to look at the world with the compassion of our God who sent His Son.

No, this cannot be done one time or even annually. To build your family will require diligence. Everyday the alternate worldviews of society are pounding on your family. The Gospel is greater and holds a greater power over the forces of evil, but we deprive the Gospel of its power when we remain silent in our homes about its effect and power in the lives of those closest to us.

This is the drive of our ministries at FBC Fairburn, to equip you to build your family on the foundation of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So today, please resolve to train your family in the Word of God. Go as far as His Word in when and how: “when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deut. 6.7).

Need help? No problem! Come see me. I want to help you build!