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PARENTS AS SHEPHERDS AND GARDENERS: PART 2 Daniel Patz, Lead Pastor Grace Church, Sunday Worship May 2nd, 2010
Eph 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Last week I talked about how parents are called to shepherd and garden their children (by knowing, feeding, leading and protecting) and I looked at the negative of verse 4. Fathers, DON'T PROVOKE your Kids. This morning I want to take the positive of the verse - "but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." To do this I need to introduce you to a concept. Because of our culture it is challenging for some because many do not have a vibrant expression of this in your life. It is what happens when you are part of a culture. Where you breathe that culture with joy, loyalty and commitment. It may be a football team...me and the Packers. It may be hunting, fishing, outdoorsmanship. It might be traveling. It might be reading, literature...and a particular type of literature. It might be pets, animals, horses... It might be cooking...olympics... It might be TV shows, movies, video games...
It might be
patriotism, ethnicity, loyalty to an alma mater, etc. The Scriptures teach us that we, the church, are called to be a culture with shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterize us - namely a devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and a living faith in him.
Don't provoke your kids to anger but: BRING THEM UP IN THE DISCIPLINE OR INSTRUCTION OF THE LORD.
PAIDEIA The English of this verse is difficult because Paul introduces a word that we need to get as parents. The ESV uses the word "discipline" and the KJV does a better job with "nurture." The NIV uses "training". What does Paul mean here. "Bring them up" = raise up or nourish to maturity in the PAIDEIA and instruction of the Lord. I am interested in helping you understand this word this morning for it is crucial to understand the essence of biblical parenting. This word includes training, discipline, preparation, education, instruction, correction, enrichment... To sum it up, this passage calls us to the ENCULTURATION of our children in the Lord. "Fathers...bring them up in the enculturation of the Lord." Teach them the culture of Christ....Do everything you can to help them to become disciples of Jesus by the power of the Gospel.
Your goal is to
make disciples of your children and you do it by enculturating
them in the Lord - in the richness of Jesus and His Gospel. I believe that each parent has a calling on his and her life to make disciples of their children. Together they are called to the enculturation of their kids so that they can live and thrive in the gospel-saturated path of Christ (a disciple) through the winsome lifestyle of biblical instruction and loving correction. We are to enculterate our kids to God and things of God in a joyful, faith-filled way. I have no doubt that when Paul says - "but bring them up in the paidiea and instruction of the Lord" he has Deuteronomy 6 in mind. So lets look there. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (5) You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. (7) 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. (8) You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (9) You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Fundamentally for Kids - OBEY AND HONOR YOUR PARENTS IN THE LORD
For the Lord's
sake. Most have a culture that is pretty godless with a sprinkling of Jesus
It begins with the parents.
6 Ways of Creating a Culture IN THE LORD - in the Gospel 1. TRUTH of the parents Deuteronomy 6:5-6 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (6) And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
2. TEACHING by the parents Deuteronomy 6:6-7 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. (7) You shall teach them diligently to your children...
3. TALK in everyday life with the parents Deuteronomy 6:7 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.
4. TRAINING in practice by the parents Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.
5. TRADITIONS joyfully lead by the parents Deuteronomy 6:8-9 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. (9) You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
6. TIME invested
from the parents Proverbs 12:27 Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth. |
