Good evening. This evening as we continue to celebrate mother’s day I want to talk to all of the parents especially. I must begin with a statement by an unnamed person. Someone once said, “I once had no children and six theories on child-rearing. Now I have six children and no theories on child-rearing.”
Parents, you can surely identify with the challenge of raising children. Now I am not in that position yet, but as we examine some passages mainly from the book of Proverbs tonight, we will find some invaluable guidance for parents and for children.
Before we begin, let’s open with a word of prayer
First, let’s look at the Responsibility Of The Parents
What do you think are some of the responsibilities of parents?
Well there are 3 main areas here in this category that I want to look at this evening. First, the responsibility of parents includes teaching them.
Could I get a volunteer to read Proverbs 1:8?
Could I get another volunteer to read Proverbs 4:1-4?
And could I get someone to read Proverbs 22:6?
The first thing that we can find is that as parents, we need to make sure that we provide instruction or teaching to our children. One of the most significant parenting jobs is to teach and train your kids. Proverbs 1:8 again said, “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.” Perhaps the best-known proverb on parenting is found in Proverbs 22:6 where it said, “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Another thing that we have to realize is that our words have a tremendous impact on people, especially those in our family. Proverbs 16:21 says, “Pleasant words promote instruction.” You see, if we want our children to learn, we must use words of life with them.
One day a teacher asked her class what they wanted to be when they grew up. The names of several occupations filled the room such as: “President.” “Fireman.” “Teacher.” One by one they all gave their answer until it was Billy’s turn. The teacher asked, “Billy, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Billy immediately responded, “Possible.” “Possible?” asked the teacher. Billy replied, “Yeah, that’s what I want to be. My mom always tells me that I’m impossible. So when I grow up I want to become possible.”
So, now that we know that instructing and teaching your children is important, let me ask you how we can do that?
The second thing that I want to cover when it comes to the responsibility of parents is how you need to discipline your children.
It is vitally important to deliver discipline to your children in order for them to grow. God has positioned parents strategically in order to provide discipline and correction for children. In Proverbs 29:15 it says, “The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.”
Leonardo Da Vinci once put it this way, “He who does not punish evil, commands it to be done.” Proverbs 22:15 says, “A youngster’s heart is filled with rebellion, but punishment will drive it out of him.”
When we correct our children, it’s important to do it out of love. Proverbs 3:12 says, “Because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” If you delight in your kids, you will discipline them. Another Proverb puts it this way, “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.”
Proverbs 6:23 helps us see the long-term effects. Here it says, “The corrections of discipline are the way to life.” When a parent disciplines their children it should not be for the parents sake, but for the well being of their children. If we want them to live life to its fullest, then we must do our job of correcting them when they need it.
In other words, we’re really doing our kids a favor when we discipline them. Someone has said, “The parent who is afraid to put his foot down will have children who step on their toes.” Proverbs 29:17 says, “Discipline your son and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul.” I love how the Living Bible translates Proverbs 19:18. It says, “Discipline your son in his early years while there is hope. If you don’t you will ruin his life.”
Someone once said, “The handwriting on the wall usually means that someone’s going to get a spanking.” Loving discipline is a must. Abusive discipline is horrible. And we’ve all heard stories about abusive parents. Now I’m not saying to never be firm with children, but there is a limit to what you should do. And it must all be done out of love.
Here is what one minister wrote in a book one time. He writes, “One time while serving at a Christian Service Camp in Montana, I saw something that helped to prove the importance of loving discipline.
The children in camp were in grades 5 and 6, I believe. There was one little boy who was so mean that everybody was ready for him to leave camp the next day. He would sooner spit on you and kick you in the shins as look at you. And he kicked me several times. So I just avoided the boy. I didn’t want to have anything to do with him. I hoped that he would go home soon too.
One day while we had rest period I was in the boys’ cabin, lying on my bed resting. Suddenly, one of the faculty members came in with that little boy. He took him to his bunk, turned him over his knee and spanked him. The boy rose up and tried to hit the faculty member. That man turned that boy over his knee a second time and spanked him again. By then the boy was crying. Then the man said to him, “I want you to understand why I spanked you. I did it because I love you, I care about you and I don’t want you to be a naughty boy.”
Amazingly, that boy was a different boy the rest of the week! He started acting decent to people and of course, he couldn’t get away from that faculty member. They became best buds, so to speak. Careful, loving discipline makes a difference.”
You see, when parents discipline their children, no matter how they do it, it needs to be done out of love. Proverbs 13:24 “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.”
Proverbs 19:18 “Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death.”
Proverbs 22:15 “Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far from him.”
Proverbs 23:13-14 “Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. Punish him with the rod and save his soul from death.”
Proverbs 29:15, 17 “The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.”
When we instruct and discipline our children, it’s important that we provide a good example for them through all of this. I found this neat little saying, and it is so true. It said, “I can tell but never teach until I practice what I preach.”
So, how does a parent discipline their child out of love?
The final thing that I want to look at from the parents point of view is that parents need to accept the Lord's discipline of you.
God is prepared to deal with His children when they sin! There are three ways God could deal with us when we sin.
First of all, God could condemn us!
Even after a person is saved, the first time they sin God could just go ahead and send them to Hell. But God won’t do that, for the Bible says in Romans 8:1 that “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ.”
Secondly, God could condone us!
God could just stick His head in the sand and ignore our sin and overlook it. But God cannot and will not do that because He is a holy, righteous, and a just God that lets no sin go unpunished! God always has to deal with sin because of His character!
But the third way that God could deal with us, and the way that He does deal with us is He can correct us!
You see, if God condemned us after we sinned then that would be pure legalism; that is, if you sin, you go to hell! If God condoned our sin, that would be liberalism, where God would just simply say that sin is no big deal and let it go. But the third way that God deals with us is in love! The Lord Himself said in Revelation 3:19 “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.”
So God disciplines parents as well. What are some ways that God can discipline us as His children?
Well, as we move on, the second category is the Response Of The Child.
The main thing here is that Children are to show obedience
Could I get someone to read Proverbs 1:8-9?
Could I get someone else to read Proverbs 3:1-2?
And someone else read Proverbs 4:1?
The important thing is that children need to Listen to instruction. When I was younger I often just blew off what my parents told me. As many of you know now, your parents are wiser than you use to think. In Proverbs 19:27 it says, “Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.”
I know many of you don’t believe this, but even the discipline you receive when you mess up is a good thing. Your parents are actually doing you a favor, so try to not become bitter toward them. Proverbs 15:5 says, “A fool spurns his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction shows prudence.”
And then as we close it is important that we all show wisdom in character and actions
Could I get someone to read Proverbs 10:10?
Someone else get Proverbs 13:1?
Someone please help me with Proverbs 15:20?
And finally, someone help me with Proverbs 17:25?
What are the main things that we can learn from these passages of scripture?
Why and how is this important to all of us?
Well, as we close this evening, as Christian mothers and fathers, you are to train your children according to the Lord's ways, since we are all under His authority. And to those of you whom are children, realize that good and godly parents don't automatically mean you are a good and godly person, you still have a responsibility to your parents and to the Lord about your conduct.
Let’s Pray |
