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Welcome to Soul Bible Church. We're glad that you're here for Sunday School. This is a day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. We do have a monthly memory verse, actually a double set of monthly memory verses. That's where we're memorizing John 15, verses nine and 10. So if you have your bulletin, the center panel has these two verses. I will recite them for you. You can recite them afterwards, and then we will spend some time I'm trying to hide these verses in my hearts. John 15, verses nine and 10. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments in my, in his love. And now you can hear the echoes. John 15, nine and 10. As the Father hath loved me, So have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. John 15, 9 and 10. Let's hide this in our hearts for a moment or two, and then we will say it together. I'm so pissed. Sorry, I didn't mean to race through it. I can't catch you up. Can't catch up? Well, I'll say it's slower this time. Let's take the time to slowly and thoughtfully read through John 15 verses 9 and 10. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. John 15, 9-10. All right. Well, in the United States, we are having Mother's Day. Here in Korea, we observed Parents' Day on Mother's Day. And one of the things that I think all of us are thankful for, those of us who had Bobby parents, is our Bobby heritage. So before we get to the message this morning, I would like to turn to number 234, and we will sing My Mother's Bible. We'll go ahead and sing verses 1, 2, and 3. 1, 2, and 3 of my mother's Bible. Let's go ahead and stand and sing. There's a dear and precious book known to more than they can count, which recalls of its happy days so long ago. Oh, there's a clear and precious blood that is boiling in me, which replaces happy days all over the world. And I swear that life's healing will come my way. And I know I still don't know tomorrow. I still don't know. I wish I saw you earlier. I was here when tears came pouring out of your eyes. Now I see you're here and I feel there's a problem here. And it means that I still have my mother by my side. Can she lend us something so we won't lose her? I'm closer than the moon to the stars. I'm better than the glory in the stars. I'm sweeter than the flavor of wine. ♪ Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light ♪ ♪ What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming ♪ ♪ Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight ♪ ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming ♪ Thank you. Good singing. Go ahead and take your seats this morning. I wish a happy Mother's Day to our mother that is here this morning. You know, parents have a high and holy obligation to discipline and train their children. So this Mother's Day, we are looking at the discipline and training of children. And I'd like to start this morning by looking at Deuteronomy chapter 4. In this passage, you see Moses speaking about teaching. And of course, this is as the people of Israel are ready to enter the Promised Land. Moses is going through the history of God's work among the nation, and he is reminding them of the importance of teaching children about the Word of God, about God, and teaching the Word of God not only to children, but to all. So we are in Deuteronomy chapter 4, and I'm going to read verses 1 through 15. Deuteronomy chapter 4. Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I am teaching you to perform, so that you may live and go in, and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word which I have commanded you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, which I have commanded you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord has done in the case of Baal Peor. For the men who follow Baal Peor, the Lord your God has destroyed them from among you. But you who have asked of the Lord your God are alive today, every morning. See, I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entered to necessity. So keep and do. For that is your wisdom, and your understanding, and the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. New York, Chapter 11, Verse 7. For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it, as the Lord our God, whenever we call on him? Or what great nation is there that has statues in judgments, as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today? Only give heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen, and that they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life, but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. So as we continue reading Deuteronomy 4, we are now in Deuteronomy chapter 4, verse 10. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Korah, sometimes called Mount Sinai. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, Assemble the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so they may learn to hear me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children. You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens. Darkness, cloud, and thick gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you saw no Lord, only a voice. Verse 13, So he declared to you this covenant, which he commanded you to afford. that is, the tip of the nose. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone. The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them in the way in which you are going over to possess them. So watch yourselves carefully, since you do not see in the world a day of Lord's virtue at all. Our Father in Heaven, You have spoken to us through Your Word. Your Holy Spirit has given us the Word of God that is forever settled in Heaven. Your Word teaches us so that we might teach others. Father, as we look at your Word today, as we consider what we should do, how we should teach and instruct children, our children, our students, perhaps those in our Sunday school classes, Father, I pray that you would use your Word, this Word, to teach us what we are teaching. Give us ears to hear. Give us eyes to see wondrous truth of the Word. Give us your wisdom of the Word of God, that we might have wisdom to heal our children, our grandchildren, our students, and those that we serve. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen. It is important for any parent, and even for those who have teaching goals for children, to consider our duty to discipline. When we discipline our children, or our students, our classrooms, sometimes even our grandkids, We are following the Lord our God. In Deuteronomy 8, verse 5, we are reminded you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. God disciplines his children. Scripture is clear about that. And this discipline is not an act of hatred. This is a mark of love. To correct, to put someone back on the right path, is an act of love, of concern and compassion. It is not an act of cruelty or hatred. And so we, as parents, as those who are involved with children, have really an obligation to discipline our children. And part of the purpose of discipline is to introduce children to God's holiness. You see, God, in Habakkuk 1, verse 13, tells us that He is a purer eyes than to behold evil. He cannot look on wrong or sinfulness. He does not delight in sin. And as we teach our children that God is holy, that He does not tolerate sin, that He is separate from iniquity, that He is good and righteous and holy, this is introducing our children to the character of our God. Now remember, in the Mosaic Covenant, God promises to bless those who obey Him. But there is, just as clearly, that other side of the coin. The other side of the covenant is not blessing, but cursing for those who disobey. And so you look, for instance, in Deuteronomy 11, verses 26 through 28, there is this sober warning. I'm setting before you today a blessing and a curse. The blessing, if you listen to the commands, or the commandments, of the Lord your God, which I'm commanding you today, and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments. of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way in which I have been each day, by following the other ways in which I have been." I mentioned in last week's sermon that all the Old Testament instances of Israel's dissonance are meant to teach us, to instruct us, to warn us, that we must do what we need to do. 1 Corinthians 10, 11 says, these people, Israel, are our bad descendants. Don't follow them. Again, this is so important because of the character Our God is very kind. He is always good. But we are told in Romans 11, 22, behold both the kindness and the severity of God. He is kind to those who obey. He is kind to those who are his, who are walking obediently. But the severity, to cut off Those who have transgressed the covenant, who have rejected the covenant, the context there in Romans 11 and 22 is Israel, who has turned their back on the Mosaic covenant. And so we need to take heed to the holiness of God. The scriptures are full of commands, be ye holy, for I am holy. And so our children need a good diet of Old Testament history. This will help children to avoid the philosophy, the mindset of this contemporary world that sees sin as normal and good. This world looks on immorality, all kinds of perversion and abominations as good. We live in a world that calls evil good, and that calls good evil. That is our world. And unless we bring our kids to the scriptures, to the word of God, they will be brainwashed by the world. That's the water we swim in. That's the world we live in. And so we need to give them an inoculation from the scriptures so that they are able to have wholesome, good programs, understanding of what is good and what is wrong. Teaching God's holiness and his moral standards will help our children to understand God's demand for purity in a world that is so defiled. This will help them to understand why Paul, in 1 Corinthians 5, calls for church discipline with immorality in church. We need the scriptures to give our children moral guidance, a moral framework. They must not get their framework from the Lord. And so not only must we introduce children to God's holiness, we need to heed the Apostle Paul's direction. Turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 6. I'm going to read to you verses... Let's just read the first nine verses here. We'll go to part one, verse four, and I'll go over to you in context. Trust. Ephesians 6, 1 through 9. Children, obey your parents and the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment promised. That's commandment number 5 of the Ten Commandments. You're on the right axis here. So, the promise is, verse 3, so that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth. Verse 4, this is where I want to spend most of my time. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart as to Christ. Not by way of eye service as men pleasers, but as slaves of Christ. Doing the will of God from the heart, with good will, render service as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slightly or greatly. Now, first of all, the masters do the same things to them. Give up threatening, knowing that both their master and yours is in them, and there is no partiality between them. All right, as we look at Paul's directions, it's not just about his directions, it's connected. We see in Ephesians 6-4 this commandment, do not love. Do not provoke your children to anger. As dads and moms, we need to avoid extremes as we discipline our kids. when I discipline my children because they should never have to do that. I don't want to give the message only, Dad is mad. I want them also to get the message, we were mad. Right? If the only message they get is Dad is mad, that is not a good teaching. The object of discipline and teaching my kids is not just to teach them not to make me mad. The object of discipline and training my kids is to bring them under conviction, I have sinned against God. I have sinned against God. And so we don't want, as Colossians 3.21 says, we don't want to leave our children discouraged. Feeling, you know, I can never make Dad or Mom happy. No matter how much I try, there's always going to be room to improve. It's never a good job. It's always, I just can't do that. And so we don't want to leave our kids discouraged, believing that it's impossible to please God and it's impossible to please us. Because, and so, we must encourage our children to do right. You hear him there in 1 Timothy, or in Ephesians 6, but turn to 1 Timothy 1. In 1 Timothy 1, we have this martial call, this military call. This command I entrust to you, Timothy my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning me. concerning you, that by the good fight, the good fight. Here Paul is with the spiritual son saying, all right, I've commanded you, I've exhorted you, I've been like the commanding general saying, charge, fight the good fight, you can do it, you can win, this is possible, follow me. And so we need to help our kids aspire to goodness, Aspire to greatness, to be great, to be in God's arms. And you say, wait a minute, isn't that horrible? The apostles asked to find Christ right here in London, right? And Jesus did not rebuke them for their ambition. He said, you want to be great? I'll show you how. And so there is room in Christianity for a holy ambition to strive, as Paul says, to win the race. He wants to be great in God's eyes. And there are, there's a whole thing in Hebrews 11. There's a promise of reward to those who do well. We need to aspire to please our heavenly Father. We need to aspire to lead our children to aspire to please him. And when we must discipline the rat, to be honest with you, we don't. Because our discipline, the Ephesians 4.7 says, we don't hold a grudge against our kids when they, you know, don't like the sound of that. Don't let your kids believe that you would kill a mosquito with a cannon. In other words, don't overreact. All right, so Ephesians 6.4 instructs us, do not promote your children to anger, so that they're so frustrated at their inability to please you, that they just give up or explode. This is very true. I think Colossians 3 angered Ephesians 6.4. Now, we did read Ephesians 6.1 and 2, so there's words to kids as well. So kids, if you're listening, Ephesians 6.4. We see again, the second part is, bring them up in discipline. And so what we see here is that we need not only to not promote, but we must discipline in the operative order here it is. Bring children up in the discipline of the Lord. Now if it's of the Lord, that means when the Lord disciplines us, how does he discipline us? Is God harsh with his children? He is gentle. He has promised not to put out a smoking flax. He is... Jesus Christ commands us, come unto me, Lord, and be gentle. I am me. And so avoid harshness, but also avoid laxity. In other words, don't let your kids get away with everything. And so there's this balance that we gotta have. You can't let them, you know, go out there and be a wild child, but we can't also break them. And the word discipline here, you may know this from previous studies. This is training people in accordance with proper rules of conduct. There are certain things that are expected of well-brought-up young men and young women. That is what discipline does. What is right? What is good manners? What is right behavior? What is acceptable? This is more of a focus on training, here's how, than punishing. All right? Good parents discipline. And as we've said before, this is following God's example. We see in Hebrews 12 that if God is not punishing you that there's a really good chance, say 100, a 100% chance that you are not His, right? Every father disciplines his children. If God is your father, He will discipline you. That's because He loves you. And the result of that discipline, that's the decision. Our parents when we were young disciplined us If your parent didn't discipline you did you respect them? If your parents did discipline you, you respected them. You knew better than, you knew to walk the line, right? You knew to do what's right. And of course, the ultimate examples of not doing this are in the Old Testament. Remember, Eli, a secret priest, but he sinned against his sons by not holding them to account. God told him in 1 Samuel 3, 13, that you're ignoring me. You're ignoring your responsibility that I gave you to discipline your kids. So this is 1 Samuel 3. Of course, these sons were little hellions. They were making people hate worship. Just terrible kids. And in 1 Samuel 3, verse 13, the Lord says to Eli, I have told him, Eli, that I'm about to judge his house forever. For the iniquity of which he knew, that bad brought me kids. He knew about it because his sons brought a curse on themselves and he didn't rebuke them. You say, wait a minute. He said, naughty, naughty. Yes, he did. That wasn't a rebuke. They just went right on and kept on being rascals. That's not what you'll hear or see on today's TV or today's social media. But this is the learning. If you love someone, you will learn. He just tells us to tell the truth. If you love, you will do it. Again, not too harshly, not harshly. You will do it with love, and you will learn. Those who love their children are actually diligent, disciplined, All right, so don't provoke Ephesians 6, verse 4. Let's go back there. Ephesians 6, verse 4. The third phrase, or the third direction here in Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 4. It says here, fathers, do not provoke your children's anger. That's number one. Number two, bring them up in the discipline. Number three, and we need what? And we need the instruction of the Lord. So we need to instruct knowledge of the Lord. Parents have a responsibility. This word, instruction, here is a word that the Christian cults, I think they have, has adopted the word to, or counseling, J.S. This idea is counseling. Instruct children as to what is right, what is correct, why right is right and wrong is wrong. And as you counsel, you listen, listen to your kids. Be able, as Peter says, to give an answer for the hope that God has for you. Why does God say, don't do this? Why do you as a parent say, don't do this? Sometimes it's not a biblical principle, it's an order principle, right? We don't want to leave our bedrooms because we don't want to live in a pigsty. Be able to reason with your children and explain to your children why you do this. We wash our dishes because we go to eat. We don't talk over. That's just nonsense. And so, listen, but be able to explain. And learn, as Jude 3 says, to contend for the faith with the reason. Children need to learn it is reasonable to dedicate themselves to the living God. Romans 12. Again, these are so familiar verses, but again, this applies across the board. I urge you, brothers and sisters, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind so that you may prove what the will of God is, which is good and acceptable. So do not provoke. Discipline lovingly. Instruct knowledgeably. Counsel. And then finally, we want to nourish our children. Raise children to maturity. By providing for their physical and psychological needs, children need to know their parents are present to support them. Parents, mom and dad, are committed to their kids' best welfare. They don't want them to kill each other. They don't want them to kill themselves, right? Children should know that. And one excellent way to nourish children is to pray. Pray for them, love them with love. 1 Thessalonians 4, 12, 13, James 5, 16. Children should know their parents are praying for them every day. Okay, so first of all, we want to introduce children to God's Holy List. We need to heed Thirdly, we need to respond consistently. Mom and dad need to agree to discipline, and don't argue about discipline. That's by and large what we need. Stanford, as James 512 says, not just yes, he is. We can also find that in Matthew 533. Fourthly, foster attitudes of respect. As we saw in Ephesians 6, verses 2 and 3, the fifth commandment requires that children honor their parents. We find that in Deuteronomy 5, verse 3. And as I mentioned before, Hebrews 12, 9, discipline against disrespect. The command to obey parents is the first commandment of the promise, Ephesians 6, 3. Believers need to show respect to others. So now we've widened it up from teaching kids, you gotta respect me, to kids, I respect authority. I respect the government. I may not agree with the government, but I'm told to respect those in authority. Not only do I respect authority, Hebrews 13, 17, tells me that I need to respect those in the church that have leadership responsibilities as well, because the pastors and the church leaders give an answer to God about how to lead the church. So your example, how you respond to your employer, can have a huge impact. So in the context of Ephesians 6, we've got both the slaves and the masters. And so, you've got parents, you've got kids, and then you, okay, they're important. That would apply to Christianity as important. Not with eye service, not to, you know, catch your boss's eye, but because you're certain not. And that continues on through our service. Respecting those who are important to you. And finally, as we think about discipline, remember discipline is for our children's welfare. It's not just about our education as a family, for instance. Discipline is about more than what people think of you or your own. It's about the welfare of your kids, all of that is part of it. Secondly, not only do we have discipline, we have instruction. Now, proverbs one through nine is all about childhood, right? Solomon says, son, listen up. I've got a few things to say, right? And here is teaching. And so instruction is something that takes place throughout our lives. Character tends to be more caught than taught. Christians and children imitate, for example, so Paul says, follow me. Imitate me. Be like me as I follow Christ. He says it five times, and again, I'll just rush through these without reading the first three. It's 111, chapter four, verse 16, 1033, Philippians 3.16, first Thessalonians 1.6, second Thessalonians 3.9. And the point is, It was saint to imitate Paul, as he was imitating Christ. And so Timothy could rightly imitate Paul, second Timothy, third Timothy, ten and eleven. Your child's view of God may be shaped by your thinking. Isaiah reminds us that God is more caring than a mother, Isaiah 40, verse 5. A mom may forget her kid, but God won't forget you. Fathers need to illustrate God's compassion, Psalm 103, verse 13. And God listens to us, as our heavenly Father and our Son of God. So fathers should show God's reliability, faithfulness, by our beauty. You know, a thug offers you comfort, you're guaranteed. No, the comfort isn't that you fail, it's that God is not frustrated or foiled on your day, right? Because parents have a high responsibility to train their children to keep up with all of it. And so we're told, you know, if you mess up, it's like tying, you know, you might as well tie a rope around your neck and put a stone on it and toss it off the cliff because if you cause the child to stumble, it's better to throw yourself off the cliff. This is Luke 17 too. And so as Christians, as parents, we have to be careful. We can't be hypocrites. Our kids will see that. We need to be more than cultural Christians, right? I'm a Christian because I'm not a Buddhist, right? No, it's our relationship with God that needs to be authentic and seen by our kids. But none of us are perfect. That's reality. If you're looking for perfection, don't think of me. Think of Jesus. Right? Jesus is the only one who's ever been perfect. Parents and teachers will be helped when I speak of James 3-2. Most of us should aspire to be teachers, because we'll be judged by higher standard in James 3-2 says. But we have to learn to accept responsibility for what we do, for what we say. be willing to apologize. Acknowledge your sins and pay your fees. That's the basic condition of our Christianity. When Christian parents apologize to their spouses, to their kids, they teach children wrongly the best way to confront their parents. We have to accept responsibility for our own actions. This apologizing, repentance, upholds God's holiness by refusing to condone even our own sinful behavior. It's not enough to condemn my kids' sin. I've got to condemn my own sin. And finally, we started out in Deuteronomy 4. We need to instruct through teaching. We need to teach the Word of God. It's in chapter 4 of Deuteronomy. Make God's Word known. Talk about the Word of God. Deuteronomy 6, verses 6 through 9, it says, Shema. We need to teach our kids the Word of God. You don't need a seminary degree to teach the Bible to your kids. You can have talks around the mealtime table about God's Word. When you're traveling on a trip, you can talk about God's Word. You know, we do have travel devices off in the Bible. Bedtimes, wake-up times, these are excellent times to talk about the Word of God. Talk about the Word of God. Live by the Word of God. God has spoken from the Bible. We saw that in Deuteronomy 4, 12, and 15. It's also seen in verse 36, 54, and a few other verses. The point is, God miraculously authenticated His Word. He's speaking from the Bible. The Bible is God's Word. Convey faith in the truth of God's Word. The Bible came from Almighty God. It's true. It's necessary for everyone to hear it and know it. Relate the story of salvation to Deuteronomy 4. Don't neglect God's Word. Don't allow your family to forget all God has done. In Deuteronomy 4, we saw a time when And then finally, use visuals. In Deuteronomy 6, verses 8 and 9, they had these things between their foreheads, right? Not between their foreheads, between their eyes. Verses. They had signposts. Whether clothing or signs, in Joshua 4, they built memorials from stones from the red from the sea, Joshua 4, 6 through 7. Old Testament festivals, they built tents to remember the exodus. Passover, they had this lamb to remember the Lamb of God. Oh, and so we have these pictures. It's a good way to teach. Father, thank you for the children that are in our lives. Thank you for the children that are at our church. Help us as parents, as teachers, to write the discipline and to teach.
The Discipline & Instruction of Children
Series Family Messages SS
Happy Mothers' Day! It's been said a woman's job is never done. That is even more true of mothers! Parents have a God-given responsibility to both discipline and teach their children. Today, we will look at Ephesians 6 and Deuteronomy 4-7. Buckle up!
Sermon ID | 510252322384138 |
Duration | 48:10 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday School |
Bible Text | Deuteronomy 4-7; Ephesians 6:1-4 |
Language | English |
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