Concentric Circles of Blessed Families

Small Group Guide CONCENTRIC CIRCLES OF BLESSED FAMILIES The Church at Brook Hills Dr. Jim Shaddix April 12, 2015 Psalm 128

MAIN TRUTH

Message Outline

To download the outline for this week’s sermon, visit brookhills.org/media.

Message Summary

In light of Local Emphasis Week and New Parent Commissioning at The Church at Brook Hills, Pastor Jim deviated from our Bible Reading Plan in order to underscore the importance of making disciples of the next generation. Psalm 128 demonstrates how one’s fear of God affects families and even the nation, and it specifically addresses the husband and father in the family. As he obeys God’s Word and enjoys God’s blessing, the man of God works hard to provide for his family for God’s glory, and within the family, he values his wife and his children as God’s gifts. As a church, we fear God and assume responsibility for the families in our church with a view towards God’s overarching mission, keeping in mind that the welfare of the family is affected by the welfare of the community of faith.

WHY IT MATTERS

Digging Deeper

For small groups consisting of married couples or of individuals with children, identify characteristics of a disciple. In order to effectively “make disciples,” we need to know the characteristics a disciple. Identifying these characteristics helps us to know what sort of qualities and skills to teach our children. With each of the characteristics identified, discuss how you as a parent can train your child in that area. For example, a Christ- follower spends time building a relationship with God, praying, studying, and meditating on Scripture. As a parent, how can you teach your child to pray? To study and meditate on Scripture? To love God? What does this look like before a child is old enough to read on their own? What does it look like when they are in elementary school? Middle school? High school? Where are your children currently at in their relationship with God? What would it look like for your child to take one step of growth from where they are now? How can you come alongside them to take that one step of growth? To effectively make disciples of your children, you must be growing in your own relationship with God. What next step can you take?

For small groups consisting of singles with no children, discuss what it looks like to make disciples of the next generation. What is a disciple? Why do we as a church emphasize making disciples? How do we make disciples? What are ways to do that within The Church at Brook Hills? How are you investing in the next generation? If you are already doing so, how can you continue to grow as a disciple-maker? If this is not something you are doing, why? How can you begin to obey in this area?

NOW WHAT DO WE DO?

Group Discussion & Application Use the following questions to examine what the sermon and its text mean, to apply the Word to your life, and to guide how you pray.

“Concentric Circles of Blessed Families,” April 12, 2015 | Page 1 Small Group Guide CONCENTRIC CIRCLES OF BLESSED FAMILIES The Church at Brook Hills Dr. Jim Shaddix April 12, 2015 Psalm 128

1. Psalm 128 proclaims that God blesses the person who fears Him. What does it mean to fear the Lord? What does it look like to fear the Lord in how you live today? How can you cultivate an awe and reverence for Him? 2. Why is fear of God the foundation for blessing? With the concentric circles in the sermon notes, what is the relevance and significance of the order of fear of God to the man of God to the family of God to the church of God? 3. What does it mean to blessed by God? Why would proverb-type passages like this be generally true but not always true? Why would God allow tragedy to strike someone who fears Him? 4. In what ways do we look for the blessing of God on our conditions? Why do we do this? How can we combat this tendency in ourselves? 5. Psalms 127-128 focus on husband and father working hard to provide for the families and trusting God to also provide for them. What specific sins lead a man to work hard for his family apart from God, ignoring God’s provision and blessing? How can a man resist such temptation? As a husband and/or father, how can you encourage and demonstrate love for your wife and for your kids this week? As a wife, how can you respond with love and respect towards your husband this week, whether or not he leads or provides as you would wish? 6. How can you make God the center of your home? 7. How can you cultivate contentment and satisfaction with regards to your role in your family? How is contentment not based on one’s circumstances? 8. If you are a parent, how can you raise your children to have confidence in God’s love, goodness, and power? How can you begin to teach them this now at their current age? 9. How does the welfare of the church affect the welfare of the families within that local church? What does a healthy church look like? What does a healthy small group look like? 10. How do healthy families affect the proclamation of the gospel? 11. As a small group, how are you assuming responsibility for our families at Brook Hills in view of God’s mission? What does this look like for you as an individual? 12. How can you make disciples of the next generation? Why should you do this? 13. What legacy are you leaving? What legacy do you want to leave? How can you invest now in order to make that happen?

Resources for Small Group Leaders

Weekly Prayer Focus

 Pray for Our Lives: o Pray we will all grow in our fear, knowledge, and obedience to the Lord. o Ask God to strengthen our families for His glory and for our families to serve as lights in the darkness. o Ask the Holy Spirit to convict each of us about our responsibility in serving families in our church and helping parents to disciple their children.

 Pray for Our City: o Pray for God’s favor on Brook Hills’ new outreach and worship event at St. Clair Correctional Facility, which will be on the third Friday evening of each month from 7:30-9:00pm. o Pray for First Baptist Trussville and Buddy Champion, Pastor.

 Pray for Our World: o Pray for Brook Hills’ field partner Wilson G. and his family serving in India. Wilson and his family plants churches among unreached people groups and trains believers to share the gospel and make disciples.

Weekly Readings for April 13-19

Proverbs 31, Ecclesiastes 1-6, 1 Timothy 2-6, and 2 Timothy 1-2

Commentary on Sermon Passage for Sunday, April 12

Psalm 128

Background & Structure of Psalms: God used many different writers to write Psalms: David, Moses, the sons of Korah, Asaph, etc. The book is arranged in five parts, and this arrangement occurred after the people of Israel returned to the land after the Babylonian exile. A doxology concludes each book or arrangement of psalms (Psalm 41:13 for Book 1, Psalm 72:18-19 for Book 2, Psalm 89:52 for Book 3, Psalm 106:48 for Book 4, and Psalm 150:6 for Book 5), and the entire book of Psalms climactically ends with a grand doxology of several psalms (Ps. 146-150).

 Book 1: Psalms 1-41  Book 2: Psalms 42-72  Book 3: Psalms 73-89  Book 4: Psalms 90-106  Book 5: Psalms 107-150

Commentary: Called the Psalms of Ascent, Psalms 120-134 were sung by the Israelites as they traveled to Jerusalem for the three annual festivals (Passover, Pentecost, and the Day of Atonement with the Feast of Tabernacles). So when reading these psalms, it is helpful to consider the context of pilgrims traveling with expectation and joy as they prepare to worship God at the sanctuary with the rest of the nation.

With the opening phrase “blessed,” Psalm 128 begins as a typical wisdom psalm, but rather than describing the actions of the righteous or contrasting the upright with the wicked, the psalmist focuses on the blessings received by the one who fears the Lord. This phrase “fears the LORD” serves as bookends in verses one and four, and this section of verses describes a fruitful life – both with regards to food and to children – as a reward for faithfulness. However, as with wisdom literature, such verses do not stipulate what always results from obedience. Rather, wisdom literature presents a picture of the normative, general response.

This God-fearing individual obeys the Lord (v. 1) and demonstrates wisdom and a strong work ethic (v. 2). According to the psalmist, such a person will enjoy food and plenty as a result of his labor (v. 2), and the psalmist likens this wise man’s wife to a fruitful vine and his children to olive shoots (v. 3). Although the fruitful vine analogy is easily understood, the correspondence between children and olive shoots can be a little harder to grasp, especially since most of us do not live near groves of olive trees. As Willem A. VanGemeren states in his commentary on Psalms,

…it [the olive tree] is a symbol of longevity and productivity. So are children within the household of faith! They are not like grass, which is here today but gone tomorrow. Rather, they are olive trees that in due time bear their fruit. The blessedness of the godly man will extend to other generations.

Since the Jews would have sung this Psalm on their journey to Jerusalem to the Temple (a.k.a. Mt. Zion), this explains why the psalmist would express, “The LORD bless you from Zion! (v. 5). The prosperity of Israel’s capital city was of utmost importance to the Jews since it housed the Temple, the place of God’s presence and where they came to worship Him. As their history demonstrates, having a godly king ruling in Jerusalem and godly priests serving in the Temple meant that the nation walked in obedience and experienced the blessings of God. Therefore, the Jews prayed for the peace of Jerusalem (Ps. 122).

In conclusion, the psalmist includes a blessing for the godly to live long enough to see the continuation of his family line and the security of the nation (v. 6). As Leslie Allen notes in his commentary on Psalms 101-150, “Only thus, from father to son to grandson, would…’Israel,’ live on, the covenant nation committed to worship and obey its God, the chosen people privileged to enjoy divine blessing.”

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