How to Have a Happy Home

The following sermon was preached at the Northeast Church of Christ on the 50th anniversary of the marriage of Malcolm and Billie Hill. The sermon was so beneficial to all who heard it we have been requested to place it on the web site. The sermon was preached by brother Malcolm Hill who has preached for the Northeast Church of Christ since it began in 1978.

1. Leave father and mother (Matt. 19:5).— This does not mean to hate father and mother. It does not mean to never include father and mother. It does not mean to refuse to talk with father and mother. It does not mean to refuse the advice of father and mother. It means a new family has come into existence at marriage and those entering into the marriage should be full grown and function as mature people.
2. Start in marriage by loving God supremely. (Matt. 22:37-39).— God binds a marriage together like nothing else will. If the wife loves God, then she will be a good wife. If the husband loves God, then he will be a good husband. When God guides a marriage, it goes in the right direction at all times.
3. All marriages should start with love for the Bible (Ps. 119:97).— When God's Bible is the rule book for the home then it will go in the good way (II Tim. 3:16-17). Television does not have the answer to a happy home. News commentators do not have the answer to a happy home. Talk shows do not have the answer to a happy home. Many books that have been written about how to have a happy home are not the answer. The Bible tells us how to have a happy home.
4. Start marriage by church going (Acts 20:7).— None of us realize to the fullest measure what impact others have on our lives. This is why newly-married couples need to be with church-going Christians. If we stay among the right kind of people we will do right, but if we make our dearest friends people of the world, then we very well can be led astray. Those who attend church together stay together as a general rule.
5. A truly happy home must have daily prayer in it (Matt. 7:7-8).— There is nothing so great as a married couple that prays together. This is truly a "home binder." So many homes do not have prayer in them; thus, God's divine power is refused and married people do not have that help they need which comes through prayer and prayer only. The reason homes are so dead spiritually is because there is little or no prayer. Happy homes must have prayer and God's help in them.
6. Marriage must be entered into by true love (Eph. 5:25).— Some people think money is the answer for happy homes. Money and the love of it brings trouble, not happiness (I Tim. 6:10). Some think that a happy home comes by living in a beautiful, large house. But we do not know sometimes what goes on behind closed doors even though the house is big and beautiful. Happy homes are not happy because of outward beauty. Some of the meanest and most wicked people on earth are beautiful and handsome on the outside. Happy homes are not so because of sex. This age is the age of rage when it comes to sex. Women want to look sexy. Men want to look sexy. Even grandmother wants to look sexy along with poor old grandpa. True love is the answer to a happy home.
7. Couples need to start marriage with thanksgiving (Ps. 100:1-5).— Homes are destroyed by the hundreds because they are not thankful for what they do have. It is hard to be thankful when one is griping all the time. Out of the same mouth comes complaining and thanks. It makes us think and ask, "Which one is real?" People try to "keep up with the Jones family" down the road. This will not bring happiness to the home and family. A couple that is genuinely thankful for what they have and who they are will do well in marriage.
8. Remember marriage is not a 50/50 proposition (I Pet. 3:1-7).— Sometimes it is a 90/10 situation. Couples must learn to give and take in marriage. They should try not to get mad at the same time.
9. Each person must remember their God-given place in the home.— Dad must remember that he is the head of the family—the ruler of the family (Eph. 5:22-25). He must provide for the necessities of life (I Tim. 5:8). The husband and father is held accountable by the Almighty for the spiritual needs of his family (Eph. 6:4). There is no greater sin against the family than when the father, husband, and leader gives up his position that God has given him. We have some puny men in the world today. The mom and wife must remember her place in the family as God has specified. She is to submit to her husband in all things that are righteous (Eph. 5:22-32). She is to teach her children the way of the Lord (Titus 2:1-6). She is to be a home maker (Prov. 31). She must always remember she was created to be a help meet to the man (Gen. 2:18). She was not created to boss and run him.
10. Start marriage with the realization there are going to be good times and bad times.— This has been true since God created man in Eden (Gen. 2:7-3:24). It is not married and 100% hapiness ever after. It is marriage and sometimes the raising of the rafters. But Christians know how to get through all times together. Where there is separation in the home, someone is not following God's plan.
11. Married couples need to remember the promises they made to each other when they got married.— We believe some men and women kept secret when they were saying the marriage vows, "I will take my partner for better and if he/she gets worse I will leave or kill them." We promise to live together until death severs the tie that binds and we should keep our promise (Matt. 19:3-9). Read Ruth 1:16-17 and apply what is said there to married couples.
12. Material things are not the answer to a happy home (I John 2:15-17).— All the gadgets and money on earth will not bring about a happy home. Happiness comes from the inside out—not the outside in.

The passage that connects all of these, and more too, is Matthew 7:12 which we call the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and you will have a happy home.