Matt Chandler - Moments

If you have your Bibles, go ahead and grab those; we’re going to be in Deuteronomy 6. We’ve been in that book for the last couple of weeks, and this will make our third week in Deuteronomy 6. Again, I think we want to really dial in and dig into this text in particular. There’s been quite a bit of conversation in our offices this morning about whether or not my shirt is pink. Here’s the deal: I don’t know, and I don’t care. All right? It’s springtime; it’s a spring color. My wife dresses me; I’m done with it. Don’t talk about it anymore. In Deuteronomy 6—don’t encourage me; we’ll be here all day if you keep on—Deuteronomy 6 is what the Jews call the Shema. It was how they saw God educating them, their families, and therefore educating them as a people. Two weeks ago, when we started digging into this, we said that what we see in the Shema is this grouping of concentric circles that show us or inform us of how our hearts grow in the Lord and how, ultimately, those around us grow in the Lord. We’ve been talking about family discipleship, right? Moms and dads, you’re already making disciples. I think you know this if you have kids. The first time your child says something you say but wish they wouldn’t, and then they say it, you realize you’re making disciples. You even know you’re making disciples when your child does something you don’t want them to do—but you do it, right? We’ve talked about how to think rightly about making disciples in our homes, about making followers of Christ in our homes. To be real honest from the start, parenting is hard work; nobody does it perfectly, right? We read the Shema to find these committed concentric circles, to consider them, and then, by the grace of God, implement them. So let’s look at this together. Deuteronomy 6, starting in verse 4: «Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God» —that’s circle one—“with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.» So that’s circle one. If you want to know how Christian education works and what it looks like to grow as a disciple and to make disciples, it starts in circle one. Circle one is that you, mom, you, dad, you, single, you, married with no children, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. I’ve always pointed out the stunning reality of where all this begins, right? He didn’t say you’re not behaving well enough, so behave better; He said, «Love Me.» The great command of the Scriptures, and this is a sweet deal, is that you and I get to fill our lives with things that stir our affections for Jesus. That’s what we get to do! We give ourselves over to, on a daily basis, what can I do today that stirs up my affections for the Creator of the universe? What increases my joy in God? There should be no begrudging submission; do I have to increase your joy? Yes. Increase your capacity to love? Yes, you do. You have to give yourself over to this; this isn’t a giant complexity of ever-increasing morality; it’s loving the law, and that stuff handles itself. Circle one into circle two: verse 7: «You shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in the house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.» So the place in which you live is the second circle, but you can only make disciples of Christ in the second circle if you yourself are growing in a love relationship with God in Christ. Then the last verse, verse 9: «You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.» This would be your outreach or how to show the city or engage our neighbors; that’s the last circle. We won’t even really address that circle in this series because we’re focusing on family discipleship. So we said we’re going to talk about family discipleship through this lens. We’re going to talk about time; we’ll talk about moments. How about milestones? Last week we talked about time, and here’s how we defined time: Family discipleship time is creating intentional time built into the rhythm of the family’s life. You’re not adding anything; you’re just building this into the rhythm you’re already in. Remember, when you sit down, when you rise up, when you go on the way, when you drive in the car, when you take them to practice, when you pick them up from school, when you put them to bed, when you wake them up—you do not add these things. So it’s imperative that you understand this as we continue to dive into this series. It’s not about adding these things; it’s about being more intentional and mindful as you’re doing what you’re already doing. I said last week, as we discussed time, that I think you can do everything we’re going to teach in this series.