TRAINING KINGDOM KIDS
PROVERBS 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
INTRODUCTION: Jesus taught the importance of children. He said that the children who came to Him were pictures of those who are citizens of His kingdom. In Matthew 18:3-4 "(Jesus) said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." The directive to the citizen of the kingdom of God is "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." The pursuit of the kingdom should be the organizing principle of every follower of Christ. Christian parents are called to embrace this pursuit as they train their children to be Kingdom Kids.
I. The Primary Responsibility for training Kingdom Kids lies with the Parents.
A. It is neither the state’s nor society’s responsibility to train our children.
B. There is an the African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child" While a community may have an impact or influence on a child, it takes godly parents who step up to their God-given responsibility to train kingdom kids.
C. Deuteronomy 6:4-7 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And you shall love the LORD thy God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart: And you shall teach them diligently unto 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 up."
D. Ephesians 6:4 “And, you fathers provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
E. The school will teach children how to read, but the environment of the home must teach them what to read. The school can teach them how to think, but the home must teach them what to believe. – Charles A. Wells
II. Training is an ongoing, never-ending Process.
A. Parenting is a 24-hour a day, 7 day a week, 365 days a year task. It extends from the cradle to adulthood.
B. Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
C. A public school survey in Maryland showed that parents spent an average of 15 minutes a week in "meaningful dialogue" with their children--children who are left to glean whatever values they can from peers and TV. Senator Dan Coates, Imprimis, Vol 20, #9, Sept, 1991
D. Deuteronomy 6:7 "…you shall teach them diligently unto 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 up."
III. All Training must grounded in Absolute Truth – the Word of God.
A. Hebrews 4:12 "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."
B. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 "And that from a child you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."
C. A man started out through a forest so thickly covered with trees that one day he could not see the sun or sky. After traveling for a long time he knew it was getting night time, so started for what he thought was home. He was so certain that his direction was right that he did not look at his compass. But when he did look at it, he was surprised to find that he was going west when he thought he was going east. He was so sure he was right that he started to throw his compass away. Then he thought, "You have never told me an untruth, and I’ll trust you now." He followed the compass and came out right. We, too, have a compass that will never tell us an untruth. It in God’s Word --the Bible. If we always follow it we will be safe, even though we think we are right. If it tells us some thing different, then let us follow what it says, for that is the only safe thing. --Gospel Herald
D. Psalms 119:9-11 "… Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to Thy word. With my whole heart have I sought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against Thee."
IV. All Training must seek to impart Christ and Christian Values
A. Robert Coles said in an interview, "I think that what children in the United States desperately need is a moral purpose, and a lot of our children here aren’t getting that. They’re getting parents who are very concerned about getting them into the right colleges, buying the best clothing for them, giving them an opportunity to live in neighborhoods where they’ll lead fine and affluent lives and where they can be given the best toys, go on interesting vacations, and all sorts of things. Parents work very hard these days; and they’re acquiring things that they feel are important for their children." (Robert Coles, interviewed in U.S. Catholic (August 1987). Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 9.)
B. The problem is parents are more concerned with preparing them to live successfully in this transitory world than preparing them to live for eternity.
C. Psalms 78:5-8 (NKJV) "For He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children; That the generation to come might know them, the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments; and may not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright, And whose spirit was not faithful to God."
D. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia states that to "Train up a child" means more than to teach, and includes everything that pertains to the proper development of the child, especially in its moral and spiritual nature
E. Introduce them to Christ
1. One elder statesman of a Christian church has devoted himself to a fifty-year study of Christian and non-Christian families. He says that in American culture today most young adults following Jesus Christ either come from non-Christian homes where they were converted to Christ in their teenage years through a dynamic youth ministry, or they come from homes where they grew up in love with Jesus because mom and dad were so in love with Jesus that love permeated their lives. It passed through their pores. Very few believers come from homes where there was a kind of indifferent, apathetic commitment to Christ. This is not my idea. This is the result of this study. It is sobering and thought provoking to suggest that, in American culture, the chances are better for a child growing up in a non-Christian home to become a Christian than for a child growing up in a home that has an indifferent, apathetic commitment to Jesus Christ. See: Deuteronomy 6 suggests that a love for God must permeate the parent.
2. 2 Timothy 1:5 "When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in you also."
3. Ere a child has reached to seven Teach him all the way to heaven; Better still the work will thrive If he learns before he’s five. - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
4. One child lost to the faith usually becomes a family lost to the faith, and not many generations later a whole community of unbelief is set in motion because of some earlier neglect of parental duties. - Carl F. H. Henry in Carl Henry at His Best. Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 5.
F. Disciple –
1. Matthew 28:19-20 (NKJV) "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
2. Ephesians 6:4 "And, ye fathers provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the NURTURE AND ADMONITION of the Lord."
3. It’s hard to train a child in a way the parents don’t go themselves.
4. In every Christian’s heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne till he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross, he remains on the throne. Perhaps this is at the bottom of the backsliding and worldliness among gospel believers today. We want to be saved, but we insist that Christ do all the dying. No cross for us, no dethronement, no dying. We remain king within the little kingdom of Mansoul and wear our tinsel crown with all the pride of a Caesar; but we doom ourselves to shadows and weakness and spiritual sterility. - A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
G. Discipline
1. Proverbs 29:15, 17 "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame. [17] Correct your son, and he shall give you rest; yea, he shall give delight unto your soul."
2. "Sparents" are those who spare the rod When offspring need attention; They find their troubles multiplied In ways too sad to mention. – Vern McLellan, The Complete Book of Practical Proverbs and Wacky Wit (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1996).
3. Proverbs 13:24 (NKJV) "He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly."
H. In everything you do Christ must have the preeminence.
1. Colossians 1:18 "… in all things he might have the preeminence."
2. In order to effectively parent, fathers and mothers must establish priorities for their homes and lives. First there must be a total commitment to Christ, then to one another in Christ and finally to serving Christ faithfully through the church.
3. Deuteronomy 10:12 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,"
