Parents Toward Children--Children Toward Parents

BALANCE IN THE HOME

SERIES

LESSON # 3 PARENTS TOWARD CHILDREN--CHILDREN TOWARD PARENTS

Eph 6:1-4

1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right.

2 Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)

3 That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.

4 And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

(KJV)

• Our text is in the form of instructions to children primarily.

• Since we are adults, we need to consider this relationship of life from the parental viewpoint.

• We will take that approach.

• Of course, we need to teach our children their responsibilities.

• But, from the vantage view of parenthood, we will profit more to study this portion of the lesson as parents.

• Obedience to “…parents in the Lord” is declared to be right (Ephesians 6:1).

• To a mature adult this is quite obvious.

• But, the “rightness” of obedience is a concept that has to be learned.

• Children must be taught the fact.

• This, then, is our responsibility.

• The best way to teach the rightness of obedience is by providing consistent and reasonable rules and instructions.

• Then, a pattern of parental conduct which exemplifies the principles which are to be taught must be provided.

• Finally, a system of rewards and punishment must be carried out.

• By consistent and reasonable rules and instruction, I mean we should provide guidance that is both stable and understandable.

• If we are “for” a certain practice one week and “against” the next week with no apparent reason for the drastic change our children, seeing the inconsistencies of our attitudes and unable to understand our change, will doubt the “rightness” of obedience.

• To refuse to change is also unreasonable.

• But, without reasons for change or, the refusal to change, for that matter a parent can destroy the capacity of true obedience.

• Most behavioral patterns can be taught from the standpoint of godly principles.

• There are definite guidelines of conduct.

• Specific acts are to be forbidden

• Certain things are to be done.

• But, so complex is the life of a child growing up to maturity that he needs a set of principles to guide him in decisions where clear-cut instructions cannot be provided before time.

Concerning Children:

• Pr. 22:6

• Col. 3:20

• Eph. 6:4

• Job 1:5 pray for your children

David for Solomon

I Chr. 22:12

I Chr. 29:19

• Covenant, benefits of, entailed on children.

Ps. 103:17, Pro. 20:7

• Curses entailed-

Ex. 20:5

Lev. 20:5

Ezek. 16:44

Sex and Youth Culture:

• Worth the Wait

• Dating rules-just set some standards in your life and lines you will not cross.

• Personal pledges of purity and commitment

• Are christian statics any different than the horrible statics of other religious and non-religious groups?

• I want to think so, although I don’t have any clear evidence.

• I recall reading statistics from a survey taken among the incoming freshman of one of our Bible schools.

• They resoundingly felt premarital sex was wrong (98%).

• Yet, when asked about other areas of impurity, they were not so sure.

• Only 51% said oral sex among unmarried couples was wrong, and many waffled on the issue of phone sex, internet pornography, and viewing sexually explicit content on video games, DVDs, and Hollywood movies.

• When I view my own reluctance to deal with such issues, in spite of what I know, I realize other pastors may feel the same way.

• Yet this generation, with its rampant sexuality and permissive philosophy, is producing a burgeoning group of sex addicts with no moral compass.

• If there ever was a time for the church to further its reach, to be willing to be transparent, and to boldly walk in uncomfortable areas, it is now.

• I know I don’t’ want to deal with sex issues.

• I can be frank in saying, I may not have the stamina, the stomach, or the desire to be stretched in modern church ministry in this way, but I have a growing awareness of how critical it is.

• Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge”.

• Without the church addressing the issue, my children, and my saints’ children, may be adrift in a moral morass.

• Are our young people ready for college?