“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” – Proverbs 22:6
What are the four of the most important jobs a parent has?
Provide for the health and well-being of your child.
Love them.
Raise them to become functional adults who can care for themselves and others.
Raise them in the faith so they know Jesus.
In His wisdom, God chose to create human beings and wire them to flourish within families. The family unit provides shelter, stability, love, and people to teach and train the child. God teaches us and we pass it on.
Keeping the Child Alive Most people naturally understand the first job. Your child depends on you to live. You must feed them, provide shelter, and protect them from danger.
Loving Them The second job really sums up all the parental responsibilities. After all, feeding your kids and teaching them are acts of love. However, it also includes caring for your child’s emotional well-being, playing with them, giving hugs, telling them you love them, and, generally, making sure they know they are loved.
Raise Functional Adults Our passage for today speaks to this as well as to the next one. There have been movements in the past that pushed letting children figure things out for themselves. There are two problems with this philosophy.
It implies that there is no right or wrong, moral or immoral, or true faith. Clearly this is not the case. So, God, who defines right and wrong and wants us to live in relationship with Him through faith, tells us to train up our children knowing right from wrong and knowing Him.
It’s bad science. God’s Word is enough for us to reject this concept, but even our own scientific studies have shown that children need boundaries and discipline to thrive. They want it…even if they think they don’t.
The Bible provides a great deal of guidance about life both regarding faith and day to day living. Proverbs, in particular, was written primarily for teaching the youth wisdom for life.
One last quick note on this – notice it says train, not teach. Training is more involved and involves practice and reinforcement. Training involves discipline, which the Bible speaks to as well.
“Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.” – Proverbs 13:24
Raise Children in the Faith Lastly, and most importantly, parents are to teach their children about Jesus, raising them in the faith. This impacts all areas of life and, of course, their eternal salvation.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God 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. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your 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. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” – Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Parents have the primary responsibility to raise their children in the faith which is why having family devotions and finding other “teachable moments” throughout the day are important. However, they are not alone. The whole church plays a role in teaching our children about Jesus and helping them to live out their faith.
If You Do Not Have Children If you do not have children, you can still be a part of helping to raise the children of the church in the faith. You may teach Sunday school, help with youth group, or just be a friend to our younger members. Often, you’ll find you learn just as much as they do.
“Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.” – Proverbs 23:22
Children, Listen! God’s message to our children is to listen to their parents, but sometimes they don’t. Despite the best efforts of parents, there are times when children grow up and leave the faith. Ultimately, the faith of each person, our children included, is between God and that person. So, we do everything we can, praying, teaching, training, etc., but we must leave it to God.
So, let us pray for our children. Let us teach them and train them what we, ourselves, have learned from God.
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for children. Please help us to love and provide for our children. Show us how to best train them up in the way they should go, especially to know You and love You.
“The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.” – Proverbs 23:24
I have a 3-year-old and he has a stubborn streak. Several times during the average day I will ask him to do something or not do something and he will refuse. Sometimes this comes with throwing a fit and it almost always ends with him sitting in time-out.
While sitting in time-out, he will scream and yell about how he doesn’t want to be in time-out. Eventually, he calms down, we talk, he apologizes, I forgive him, we pray, I assure him I still love him and he ends doing what I asked before the fits and time-out.
I have tried to explain to him dozens of times that when I tell him to do something or not do something it’s for his good. If he would just obey me in the first place, he wouldn’t have to go to time-out. He would be happier. I would be happier. Everything would be better. Of course, that message hasn’t gotten through.
Why Do I Do This? Why do I go through the hassle of disciplining my child? Why do I tell him to do this and not do that? I’m trying to raise him to be wise, wise in the Lord and wise to live a good life. It would give me great joy to see both my kids grow up to love Jesus, be kind to others, and be wise in how they live their lives.
Often, when we talk about honoring our parents, we talk about obedience. There is a greater way we honor them, though. Obedience is great for a moment, but there is something that lasts longer. We can honor (or dishonor) our parents by how we live our lives.
So, this Father’s Day. Tell your dad you love him. Listen and obey. But also, let us honor our fathers not only in obedience, but in how we live.
Heavenly Father,
You have given us parents for our own good, that we may be well cared for and trained up in all wisdom. Help me to live in such as way to to bring honor to my parents. Help me also to honor You, my heavenly Father.
“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” – Ephesians 6:4
What are the most important things parents can do to raise their kids in the faith?
I suppose we, first, have to simply acknowledge that it is the parents’ responsibility to raise their children in the faith.
There’s been a movement in our society to let kids figure God out on their own (or decide there is no God). Recently, I’ve been seeing 50+ messages a day on TV instructing my kids on how to wash their hands. Yet, I’m not supposed to instruct them about God? Nonsense.
Ephesians 6 gives both a positive and negative spin on it. Father’s don’t provoke your children to anger (negative). Do bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (positive). This is also echoed in Colossians 3,
“Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged.” – Colossians 3:21
The Negative How we treat our kids affects them (surprise). If we constantly put them down, nag them, or are overly harsh in our discipline, we can provoke them to anger and cause them to be discouraged. Yes, all kids will get angry at their parents at times, but by showing them compassion (and with them maturing some), they will move past that and see the wisdom and love in what was done. When we mistreat them, they just become perpetually angry and discouraged.
The Positive God’s way is different. Like He does for us, God wants us to lift up and encourage our children. We are to teach them about the Lord and encourage them in the faith. Notice, this still includes discipline, but it’s loving discipline intended to teach and strengthen.
When we do this, our children can grow up to know and love the Lord. They can grow up to be wise and love their parents.
Dads, You Count…A Lot Sitcoms, for a long time, disparaged fathers. They were shown to be idiots and unable to raise their kids. Thankfully, I’ve seen this trend starting to change. The truth is fathers are extremely important (and capable) in the raising of their kids, especially when it comes to teaching them about Jesus.
In fact, a European study, “The Demographic Characteristics of the Linguist and Religious Groups in Switzerland” found,
“The religious practices of the father . . . above all, determines the future attendance or absence from church of the children.”
So, what is the most influential way we raise our kids in the faith?
We live our lives of faith in front of them. We don’t just talk. We do. We regularly participate in the church. We read the Bible. We pray. We care for others. We forgive. When we sin (and we will), we confess and ask for forgiveness. We do all of this with and in front of our kids.
Children tend to emulate their parents, especially when they aren’t provoked, but are loved and cared for. So, let’s give them something to emulate.
Dear Jesus,
You have not only loved us with words, but with actions. Help us to love our children with both words and actions. Forgive us when we do wrong. Keep our children and ourselves firmly in the faith.
“As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.” – Psalm 103:13
How did your father show you love?
Fathers have many ways they can show love.
They may hug or wrestle or say they love you.
They may teach you how to fix a flat tire or put a bookshelf together.
They may ground you for doing something you shouldn’t have.
They may teach you about Jesus.
They may clean up your skinned knee.
Of course, this is only a small fraction of what the list could be. Dad’s aren’t always known for expressing their love in words, but there are many other ways to show love.
Our Heavenly Father is Like Your Father In Psalm 103 God is compared to a loving father. Just as your father may have taught you, disciplined you, cared for you, and told you that you are loved, God does as well. He loves us and shows great compassion to us. No greater example of this is His sacrificing His Son for our salvation.
Our Heavenly Father Isn’t Like Your Father I’ve learned over the years that talking about God like a father is a mixed bag. It can be very effective or have the opposite effect. The reality is that some of our fathers weren’t great dads. They may not have hugged us or taught us about Jesus. They may not have even been there at all. Some are abusive. God isn’t like that. God is love.
The truth is that even the love of the best earthly dad can’t compare to the love of our Father in heaven. He loves us completely and perfectly.
How has your Heavenly Father shown you love?
Heavenly Father,
Your love is greater than any we have experienced from another. Thank you. Thank you for Fathers. Help fathers to love their children. Where they fail, forgive them and help us to forgive.
Faith Lutheran Church in Wesley Chapel, FL Sermon for February 2, 2020 Pastor Kurt Steinbrueck
Introduction:
This week started the new sermon series, “Jesus in Our Lives.” This series takes a practical look at how having Jesus in our lives changes our lives. How does Jesus change our perspectives, attitudes, and actions.
The series will look at Jesus in four contexts of our lives:
Home
Work
School (both parents and students)
and Neighborhoods.
Today’s message focused on Jesus in Our Homes.
The message focuses on four gifts God gives us for our home lives:
God’s Word
Prayer
The Church
Family
Understanding that home look different for each person, these gifts benefit us regardless of our home situation (single, married, kids, parents, etc.), however, how we use them differs depending on our home situation.
Message Notes:
God’s Word
Not just stories and instructions. God is present and active in His Word.
He strengthens, transforms and guides us through His Word.
We should make time ever day to be in God’s Word.
Personal time
Family Devotions
We can focus on God’s promises and guidance instead listening to the world’s advice.
Prayer
God opens Heaven’s throne to us and asks us to talk with Him.
Pray about anything and everything.
We should make time ever day to pray, preferably multiple times a day.
Personal time
Family Devotions
We can bring our concerns to God instead of worrying about our home’s problems.
Church
Church was created by God for you.
God gives us blessings (Word and Sacraments) in worship.
God gives us family to walk this life of faith together.
By gathering with other believers, we build each other up, teach, correct, and care for one another.
We should prioritize worship over other activities (this takes an active choice)
We should also get involved in small groups to build relationships.
Make this commitment as an individual and do church together as a family.
We can learn and grow in the church and have the support of others instead of trying to do it all on our own.
Family
God gives family for support and stability.
Children honor your parents. They are God’s gift to you for your good. Honor means to love, respect, and obey.
Parents raise your children in the faith and discipline of God.
Singleness is a blessing.
You have opportunities people with families don’t have, use them.
Remain in the purity God has called you to.
Marriage is also a blessing.
Love one another and care for one another.
Fight for each other and for your marriage.
Jesus fought for us even though we were the ones who hurt Him and sinned against Him.
Because we have the grace and forgiveness of Jesus, we can show each other grace and forgiveness as parents and children, husbands and wives, etc.
It’s not all About Your Work
Sometimes practical faith messages end up just being a bunch of stuff you need to do. But that’s not what our faith is about. Our Faith is about what God has done.
Focus on the promises of God.
Upcoming Emails:
Over the next few days we’ll be sending out emails that supplement this week’s message. These emails will contain:
A List of Some of God’s Promises
Devotional Materials for individuals and families
Information about Prayer, Including How to Teach Your Kids to Pray
Should You Let Your Kids Skip Church?
What Does it Mean to Honor Your Parents as an Adult?