Parents: Train Your Children Series

PARENTS

Calvary Baptist Church

June 1, 2003

We hear government or school officials say, "It all begins at home." We hear pastors say, "It all begins at home." But where do parents begin at home? We need men and women, but God only gives us boys and girls.Let’s look in the Bible for timeless advice.

Keywords: Parents, Child Rearing, Family, Training,

This is message number four of six on the family, beginning with mothers day and ending on Father’s day.

HUMOR: John Ortberg asks, Who has greater contentment, a man with seven children or a man with seven million dollars? Answer: The man with seven children, because he doesn’t want any more.

TEXT: Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

* The teacher is the parent. The ultimate responsibility is to the father (Fathers . . . nurture).

* The student is your child.

* The school is every opportunity throughout all of life!

INTRODUCTION:

* In 1950, 80% of children grew up with both parents. Today, less than 50% do so.

* In 1950, fewer than 20% of children needed child care services. Today, it is 60%.

* In 1950, the divorce rate was 20%. Today it is over 50%.

ILLUS: At OCC, I saw parents who dropped off children at 6:30, breakfast in hand, and picked them up at 6:00, supper in a bag. Sadly, there would often be department store packages in the back seat. The world may not want me to meddle in its affairs, and you may not either. But someone has to speak up for our children! I wonder if there are any who are ready to return to God’s way.

BODY OF THE MESSAGE:

If we are to train our children we must . . .

T TIME

It takes time to be a parent.

ILLUS: Parents are told to train up a child. (Prov. 22:6)

Parents are told to teach their children. (Deut. 6)

Parents are told to nurture, admonish, bring them up. (Eph. 6:4)

These things cannot be done by proxy.

Very little real education takes place when the substitute teacher is in place!

You may not be much, but there is no substitute for YOU!

And there are some things that you need to take time for.

1) Worship

2) Homework Help

3) Fun Time

4) Down Time

5) Listening Time

6) Vacation Time

I have a book called The Last Sayings of Saints and Sinners. I’ve never heard of a man on his deathbed wishing he had put in more overtime!

QUOTE: “You make your own schedule.”

ILLUS: The first microwave ovens. Example, 1955 restaurant model in the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit, Michigan. We all have microwaves today. Yet we have scheduled ourselves in such a way that we drum our fingers impatiently waiting on the fastest cooking device the world has ever known.

R RESTRAINT

HUMOR: Condensed version of"My Mama Taught Me."

1 Samuel 3:12 13 In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. [13] For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not.

Discipline

1 Kings 1:5 6 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. [6] And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom. [I.e., with the death of his half brothers, he was in line for the throne].

Disobedience is never cute!

Spanking

Proverbs 13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.

Proverbs 29:17 Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.

ILLUS: Ma Barker and her four boys, the Barker Gang.

This gang, consisting of a mother and her sons, terrorized America in the 1930’s. It all started when Ma Barker failed to discipline her boys. She would talk them out of trouble at school, pay them out of trouble in the neighborhood. When the cost of paying them out of trouble became too great, the entire family became a criminal gang.

A AUTHORITY

We must teach our children the biblical and time-honored custom of respect.

1) Respect for Self

2) Respect for Siblings

3) Respect for Superiors

1 Peter 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.

Luke 14:10 But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.