Passing It On

He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. (Psalms 78:5-7 NIV)

There are a lot of instructions in God's Word. They teach us, rebuke us, correct us, and train us in the way we should go so things will go well with us in this life as we look forward to the perfect life in the next. These instructions take time to learn and even more time to learn how to follow. Parents are given the responsibility to pass this along to their children.

You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed. (1 Thessalonians 2:10 NIV)

It starts with walking the walk. Whether our parents taught us or not, we can still learn what it looks like to walk together with God. We can attend church services. We can attend small-group Bible studies. We can read Scripture. We can align ourselves with God's picture. God gives us everything we need through His Word and Spirit to live the life God calls us to live.

For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2:11-12 NIV)

Then, we can pass it along to our children. We have something to pass along. We aren't just sending them to church to hear from "them." We're going to church services together as a family. They are seeing how important God is to us by our attendance, other habits, and words. They aren't being taught by a bunch of other people, but by us as their parents. Not only that, they are learning as we teach the way God teaches us - in love. We encourage, comfort, and urge them to live lives worthy of God.

How about you? Were you taught in this way? Do you have an example of Godly parenting to follow in your own life? Do you follow this pattern yourself? Are you passing it on?

Discipline

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? (Hebrews 12:7 NIV)

Imagine your little child reaching for the burners on the stove.  Now imagine smacking their hand lightly and saying, "No."  Now imagine the child reaching again and repeating the pattern until it finally stops.  Now let me ask you, "Why did you stop your child from touching the stove?"

If you are not disciplined--and everyone undergoes discipline--then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. (Hebrews 12:8 NIV)

Parents discipline their children out of love.  It's not driven by control or anger.  Love prompts us to say, "Don't touch that stove.  It's hot!"  The alternative is to let our child get burnt.  We don't want that to happen.

Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. (Hebrews 12:9-10 NIV)

We may not like discipline as it is happening, but when we get older and understand things better, we respect the one who disciplined us.  God's discipline is always out of love.  It is always for our good.  It is always in our best interest.  God always knows best.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11 NIV)

How about you?  Have you ever been disciplined for your own good?  Did you appreciate it at the time?  Do you appreciate it now?  Have you ever experienced God's discipline?  Are you better for it now?

One Hour

Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. (Proverbs 22:6 NIV)

I remember all the work it would take to get our three children to church services when they were very young. Getting them cleaned up, dressed, put in the pumpkin seat and other car seats, packing the diaper bags, and more was an amazing feat that happened every week. It took a great amount of dedication and effort on our part. We were "going to church" this week. It was a great accomplishment and we would feel a little pride when we finally settled into our adult worship service time knowing our children were safe in their classrooms, learning about the Lord.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 NIV)

Often times they would come out of their classrooms with a project they had made and even a piece of paper with some scriptures or Bible stories on them. The project would usually make it onto the refrigerator and the story-paper ended up in the trash. There was a lot to manage with our children being little and a bunch of papers really didn't help the management of our home.

As they got old enough to go to school, we would go through a similar routine to get them on a bus in the morning. It was a little easier because they were older, but the routine happened every day. During this time, I finally started realizing something. They were going to school everyday learning things. Five days a week they would receive instruction on reading, writing, and arithmetic. As they got older, they learned science which told them that God didn't exist and did not create the heavens and the earth. They learned history that told them about all the failings of God's church without the victories and blessings. I realized that they were getting this instruction five days a week, one hour per subject each day...plus homework. Sunday school class was only one hour a week.

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. (Deuteronomy 11:18-21 NIV)

It was during that time that I realized that one hour was not enough. I started looking at that piece of paper the teacher was sending home on Sunday. It had Scriptures, stories, and discussion questions for us to do at home. We stopped throwing it away. We started looking for ways to incorporate Bible reading into our day - usually tied with bed time and prayers. I stopped fighting Traci when she wanted to do church activities together - even when it meant a second, a third, or a fourth day in our week. Even then the schools were out pacing us. Eventually we began homeschooling our children. It was time to take God's charge seriously. We wanted our children to know what it meant to walk together with God. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. At least they were getting more than one hour of God in their lives...and so were we.

How about you? Do you get one hour of God in your life each week? Do you struggle to get that much? Do you get more? How? Do your habits with God get passed down to your children (and grandchildren)? Are you all learning how to walk together with God?

Teach and Obey

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother"--which is the first commandment with a promise-- "so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth." Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (Ephesians 6:1-4 NIV)

I remember sitting in mass (Sunday Worship) next to my dad. We were in the hard benches with kneelers in front of us. During the homily (what we called the sermon), the priest started talking about this passage. When he got to the part that said "Honor your father," my dad would smile, elbow me, and say, "See, I told you. Listen to the priest. He knows." The priest continued through the passage as a part of his homily. When he said, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children," I would elbow my dad and say, "See! Listen to the priest. He knows what he's talking about." We would both smile and chuckle knowing we had "won" the discussion.

Paul's reference in Ephesians (above) was to a much earlier Scripture in Deuteronomy (below).  In the Deuteronomy passage, the Israelites have been broken out of Egypt, gone to Mt. Sinai, checked out the promised land, refused to go in out of fear, and are sentenced to wander in the desert for 40 years until all the current adults will pass away.  The next generation of Israelites (children) would take them into the promised land 40 years later..  The strange thing about their situation is that they had seen God's miraculous work.  They saw the ten plagues.  The walked through the Red Sea on dry land with water like walls on either side of them.  They followed the pillar of fire & smoke.  They drank water from the rock, ate manna from the desert floor and quail that came in the evening (only provided six days a week),  They saw the glory of God up on the mountain top and were frightened by God's presence and voice.  Yet, they did not trust God when they saw the size of the people in the promised land.  They forgot the "size" of their God.

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, "Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children." (Deuteronomy 4:9-10 NIV)

It was incredibly important that their children remember everything about God.  It was important for them to remember the miracles, the provision, and the love that broke them out of Egypt.  It was important for them to remember that God fought for them against Pharaoh's army so they were set free.  It was important to remember that God will fight for them when it comes time to enter the promised land.  There was no more important job for these parents than to teach their children to trust and obey God.  The parents weren't going to be around to help them when they went into the promised land.  Only God would be there.

The first passage we read, from Paul to the Ephesians, was not about blind trust of fathers even when they sin.  It was about children trusting their fathers to bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.  It was also about the Fathers remembering this responsibility.  There is no more important job we are given than to teach our children how to walk together with God.

How about you?  Were you brought up in the training and instruction of the Lord?  Have you experience things going "well with you" when you follow God?  Do you see your responsibility with any (future) children you may have?  Do you see the relationship between teaching and obeying?

Children

Like I've mentioned before, I could never have asked certain questions in a business environment when interviewing a prospective employee. "Are you married?" and "Have you slept with anyone other than your wife?" would not only be inappropriate. They would have gotten me fired and probably sued. "Do you have children?" would also border on the dangerous. How does that have anything to do with the computer programming job for which you were interviewing?

A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. (1 Timothy 3:12 NIV)

Yet church leadership requirements list these kinds of things. A deacon, which more literally means "table waiter," is asked these exact questions. Just to wait on people in the church, you need to be faithful to your wife and manage your children and household well? How does that make sense?

An elder must be blameless...a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. (Titus 1:6 NIV)

It makes sense when you remember the definition of leadership in Christ's Church. Leadership is not about power, position, or politics - at least not in the Church. Leadership is about walking together with God and helping others do the same. When you look at leadership through this lens, it starts to make sense. Deacons (Servant Leaders) lead by example. So do Elders. You see, it's not a list of qualifications that a person must meet before they get a position of power and can start ordering people around. On the contrary, the list of "qualifications" is actually a list of "successes." It's listing out things that successful Christ-followers will exhibit in their lives. Because they are successfully living out these qualities, we can ask them about how they do it. When we ask, they will have wisdom to share - even wisdom at a detailed level you won't find in Scripture.

He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) (1 Timothy 3:4-5 NIV)

This is why God gives us a list of attributes to try to find in other people. When we find these attributes, we can learn from someone who has already figured out how to walk together with God. When they are married, we can learn how to have a healthy marriage that reflects God. When their children are walking with God, we can learn how to build Christ into others by learning from their experience. Our children are our first ministry. They are our first mission field. They are the first people we are called by God to teach how to walk with God.




So how about you? Do you have children? Do they walk together with God? Do you know families whose children walk together with God? Do you learn from their wisdom?