Train Up A Child Series

“TRAIN UP A CHILD” Proverbs 22:6

FBCF – 6/2/24

Jon Daniels

INTRO – Sitting at railroad crossing years ago. Started noticing the graffiti. Some of it pretty impressive. Question: Why do people do that? Why do people go & spray paint their artwork on random railroad cars that will crisscross the country? I believe it’s b/c everyone wants to make their mark. And the truth is that everyone is going to make their mark. Everyone is going to make an impact w/ their lives.

Staying w/ the railroad analogy, at some point, this train is going to get to the end of the line & pull into the station. When that happens, your journey will be over & your legacy will be set. The time to work on legacy will be over. The time to make your mark will be done. The time to make an impact will be finished. That tells us that NOW is the time to ask:

- How will I leave my mark? Where will I leave my mark? What will my impact be?

- The place where you & I as parents need to be most concerned about our impact is in the lives of our children.

Listen to this story of 2 families:

JONATHAN EDWARDS – Puritan preacher in 1700’s. Very respected. July 8, 1741 – Preached famous powerful sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” – It is said that during the message, people in congregation were so overcome by conviction that they were shrieking & moaning & crying out to God for forgiveness & salvation.

Married wife, Sarah, in 1727 – 11 children – Would spend an hour every night talking about spiritual things & praying blessings over each child.

150 yrs after he passed away, a researcher traced his descendants & this is what he found:

Jonathan Edwards’ legacy includes: 1 U.S. Vice-President, 1 Dean of a law school, 1 dean of a medical school, 3 U.S. Senators, 3 governors, 3 mayors, 13 college presidents, 30 judges, 60 doctors, 65 professors, 75 Military officers, 80 public office holders, 100 lawyers, 100 clergymen, and 285 college graduates.

MAX JUKES – Lived in NY about same time as Edwards. Didn’t believe in Christian training & married a girl who didn’t either. Juke’s legacy came to people’s attention when family trees of 42 different men in NY prison system were traced back to him. Researchers discovered this information:

Jukes’ descendants included: 7 murderers, 60 thieves, 190 prostitutes, 150 other convicts, 310 paupers, and 440 who were physically wrecked by addiction to alcohol. Of the 1,200 descendants that were studied, 300 died prematurely.

Some sociologists call this the “Five Generation Rule”: That the way you bring your children up affects not only them, but 4 generations after them.

This leads us to our Scripture for today:

EXPLANATION – Proverbs 22:6

Charles Spurgeon - “He who thinks it easy to bring up a family never had one of his own. A mother who trains her children aright had need be wiser than Solomon, for his son turned out a fool.” Spurgeon made a strong point. Solomon wrote Proverbs to prepare his own son to walk in the fear of the Lord.

- Proverbs 1:8 – “Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, & forsake not your mother’s teaching, for they are a graceful garland for your head & pendants for your neck.”

Surely, Solomon’s son heeded his father’s advice & counsel & lived by the wisdom that was poured into him. WRONG! 1 Kings 12 tells us otherwise. Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, rejected the wise counsel given to him by his father’s advisers, & the result was that the country was torn apart by a civil war. “Throughout all of his formative years, Rehoboam heard his father’s teaching on wisdom and the fear of the LORD, but as soon as his father was out of the picture, Rehoboam threw himself headfirst into folly and destruction.” (https://sermons.logos.com/sermons/553888-proverbs-22:6-is-%22train-up-your-child%22-a-promise)

Solomon certainly wasn’t alone in having a son totally ignore all of his upbringing. There are tons of Christian parents who have watched in horror as their grown children turn away from their Christian upbringing, abandoning the church & their faith. Some of you here today have experienced & are experiencing this heartbreak firsthand.

And part of the difficulty in seeing your child walk away from the Lord is that our verse today seems to promise the exact opposite. We read it & think, “If I had just done a better job, she wouldn’t have left the faith…Where did I go wrong?...I thought I was doing the right things…It’s my fault that he has decided to walk away from the Lord…”

- There are pastors everywhere – some nationally famous – whose children have abandoned the faith – pastors whose children have turned to homosexuality – pastors whose children have gotten addicted to drugs – had children out of wedlock