Raising Children for the Lord ~ Deuteronomy 6:4-9 & Ephesians 6:1-4

September 27, 2015 ~ New City Church of Calgary ~ Pastor John Ferguson
Intro: We recently hit one of those mile markers of life when we launched our oldest son into the world.
Two things struck me in a fresh way: (1) How quickly children grow up; (2) short time to make a long-term
impact on our kids.
That led me to a question: What would I do differently? That question leads to a more fundamental one:
Question: How should we think about raising children? What are children for? What is the goal?
Relevancy: Some of us are parents; some of us are not. Some of us have already raised children, and
some of us hope to do so some day. Some of us live with regrets, some hope we dont screw up our kids
for life!
This question is especially relevant for those of us who are interested in following Jesus of Nazareth.
Though single without any children of his own, he nevertheless is at the centre of the story of Gods
redemption of this worlda true story that claims every dimension of our lives, including how we think
about children and the task of raising them.

Whether you are just checking out Christianity, or perhaps are just in the info gathering stage, or maybe
you are a seasoned follower of Jesus, I want to invite you to join us as we look at a key text that shaped
Jesus understanding of the family, and well look at one other passage of Scripture by one of the key
spokespersons of Jesus as he gave instructions to the early followers of Jesus in a place called Ephesus.
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
1. Covenantal Relationship b/t Israel & YHWH
(1) YHWH: the one who had rescued them by his grace, cf. Dt. 5:6 brought you out ofslavery.
(2) Israel: the descendants of Abraham who have been rescued by Gods grace from slavery.
Christopher Wright, The Mission of God, Genesis 1-11 poses a cosmic question to which
God must provide a cosmic answerWhat can God do next? Something that only God
could have thought of. He sees an elderly, childless couple in the land of Babel and
decides to make them the fountainhead, the launch pad of his whole mission of cosmic
redemption.
Genesis 18:18-19, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham
shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be
blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his
household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so
that the LORD may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.
IOW, Israel saw themselves as inheritors of the promise God made to Abraham that
through him and his descendants after him, God would bring blessing to this world.
2. This is the story in which Jesus was rooted, its the old, old story of YHWH and his love.
6:5 You shall love the LORD with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6:6 And
these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
1. When Jesus was asked about what was the greatest commandment, this is the verse he quoted.
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2. The old, old story is the context in which commands are given. The ancient people of God had a calling
to live as a contrast society from the nations around them. IOW, they were to display what human
flourishing looked like when lived under the kind rule of God.
3. The story of Godincluding how his people should live in response to Gods grace shall be on your
heart. That is, it should be front and centre in your life, not only informing your life, but forming it.
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. 8 You shall bind them as a
sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the
doorposts of your house and on your gates.
1. Teach them diligently to your children. The responsibility falls directly upon the shoulders of the
parents. God wants these childrenthe next generation given to be a blessing to this broken worldto
be instructed in they paths of righteousness and to learn these first and foremost from their parents.
(1) Everyone teaches their children. The only question is what are they teaching them?
(2) Immersed in the story of Gods redemption, they are called to immerse their children in it as well.
Deut: 6:20-24, When your son asks you in time to come, What is the meaning of the testimonies
and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you? 21 then you shall
say to your son, We were Pharaohs slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with
a mighty hand. 22 And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt
and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there,
that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the
LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always,
that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.
Ted & Margy Tripp, Instructing a Childs Heart, Scripture is our history. Creation, Fall, and
Redemption are the context for understanding life. Our children cannot understand why they are
in the world, how sin has affected them, and how redemption restores what sin has destroyed,
apart from their spiritual history.
2. Children are a stewardship, that is, something that has been entrusted to someone.
Joshua 24:15, if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve.
But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.
As the great theologian, Bob Dylan, once sang, Youre gonna have to serve someone.
Malachi 2:14, the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have
been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one,
with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring.

NEW TESTAMENT
***Ephesians 6:1-3***, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 Honor your father
and mother (this is the first command with a promise) 3 that it may go well with you and that you
may live long in the land.
1. Note that Paul sees the children of the congregation as an actual part of the congregation.

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2. 10 Commandments forms part of his instructions to them, but its rooted in the old, old story of YHWH
and his love, now made known to the world in Jesus Christ (John 3:16).
4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of
the Lord.
1. Discipline = education or training. Instruction means teach them the instructions/ admonitions of the
Lord in the context of the story of the Lord.
2. The call is for fathers and mothers to train their children for the Lord. Another way of saying this is that
we are called to disciple our kids in the kind of life that Jesus called us to live.
My son, my daughter, follow me as I follow Christ.
Main Idea: Children are a gift from the Lord that he entrusts to parents to raise for him.
1. Make sure you are rooted in the Gospel.
(1) Parenting is not so much about doing the right things, but about being rooted in the Gospel of Jesus.
If you dont get this, you will either be wracked with guilt, ruled by fear, or completely exhausted.
(2) The task is not to have a child-centred home, but a Christ-centred home lived in light of the Gospel.
2. Saturate your children in the story of Scripture.
2 Timothy 1:5, 3:14-15, I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that first dwelt in your grandmother
Lois and in your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in in as well. But as for you, continue in
what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you have learned it, and how from
childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
3. Look for fruit of childlike faith
(1) Mt. 18:6, these little ones who believe in me..
Illus: TD who told me he believed in Jesus.
(2) To our covenant kids: with great privilege comes great responsibility. You have been blessed to hear
about the Lord Jesus, both from your parents and from this community of faith. Believe in the Lord
Jesus all the days of your life.
4. Prize the community of faith.
(1) You are a vital part of raising up the next generation by your example
(2) Justins letter

5. Entrust your children to the Lord.

(1) 3 John 4, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
Likewise, there may be no greater agony than when our children are not walking in the truth. That
may be on us (if so, we need to renew our repentance, root ourselves in the gospel of Christ, and
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pursue our children afresh), OR it may not be on us. Sometimes it is the case that you have done well
as a parent, and your child, of his own free-will, chooses to go his or her own way.
Obj: Doesnt the Bible say, Train up a child in the way he should go?
Yes, but that is a proverba statement that is generally true, but its not an iron-clad promise.
Cf. Malachi 1:6, A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is
the honor due me? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me?
Cf. Luke 15, and the story of the prodigal son.
(2) If you find your heart broken by wayward children, may I suggest this pastoral advice.
In John 6, After his, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. So Jesus
said to the Twelve, Do you want to go away as well? Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom
shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know, that
you are the Holy One of God.
Some children will go astray. Some will become prodigals. Pray that they will learn that there is no
life apart from Jesus Christ. Ultimately, what they want is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ, in
whose presence there is fulness of joy, at whose right hand are pleasures evermore. So pray that
they would come to their senses and find their way back home.

Main Idea: Children are a gift from the Lord that he entrusts to parents to raise for him.

NCC, may you be a people who root yourself in the old, old story, of YWHW and his love,
and having tasted of that love, seek to share it with others, even with those of your own household.

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