Fathers Teaching Children

2012-03-04

Joshua 24:15: “And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

In our society, many of our problems stem from vacuums developing in things that ought not to be. Our churches are largely lukewarm and worldly. We as Christians do not live openly for the Lord as we ought to, and partition our lives into categories as “Christian” and “Everything Else.” However, the category that this essay will focus on is the area of fathers raising their children. This essay is not to create a detailed study, but to show the need for us fathers to raise our children in all things godly, that they may be saved and walk with God their entire lives. As in most of my writings, this essay is written first to myself more than any other person. I also hope that any reader who may read this will also see the need in raising his children to walk with God.

Teaching Our Children What God has Done

Consider these scriptures:

Exodus 12:26-27, referring to the Passover: “And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD’S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.” The men of Israel were to teach their children about how God saved his people from the death of the firstborn in Egypt. How much more should we teach our children about Christ our Passover, who saved us from eternal death in hell?

Deuteronomy 11:18-21: “Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates: That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.” It is imperative that we raise our children knowing the words of our God and what he requires of us. We are saved by grace, but he expects more from us than to just be saved. His words must saturate our speech and fill our minds.

Joshua 4:21-24: “And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.” We must tell our children the great things that God himself has done for us. The people of Joshua’s generation were expected to do so, and it is no different now. Also see Joshua 4:6-7.

Deuteronomy 4:9-10: “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons; Specially the day that thou stoodest before the LORD thy God in Horeb, when the LORD said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.” If we do not teach them about God and his words, and the Lord Jesus Christ, then nobody else is going to teach them. It is our responsibility to teach them for their own sakes, and also for the sake of the entire next generation of people.

Joshua 2:7-15: “And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnathheres, in the mount of Ephraim, on the north side of the hill Gaash. And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim: And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger. And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth. And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies. Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.” Because the generation of the conquest of Canaan did not teach their children the things of the Lord, they worshipped false gods, and provoked God’s wrath upon them. We can expect the same if we fail raise our children in the Lord.

Teaching Children How to Live

The entire book of Proverbs is designed to teach us how to live. Interestingly enough, the main context is Solomon teaching both the heir to the throne Rehoboam and the rest of his children. His son largely rejected his teaching (2 Chronicles 12:13-14), and this may have been because Solomon himself walked away from his own teaching (1 Kings 11).

The recurring themes throughout the narrative portions of the book include the fear of the LORD, turning from evil, pursuing wisdom, avoiding the wrong types of people, and discretion.

Consider the following couple passages from Proverbs:

Proverbs 1:10-19: “My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.” Children getting into the wrong crowds and joining gangs are results of the absence of this teaching. We need to teach our children that there are people in the world to avoid.

Proverbs frequently returns to the idea of strange and adulterous women, and the grave consequences that result (see Proverbs 2:16-22; 5:1ff; 6:20-7:27). In addition to teaching our sons to stay far away from such women, we also need to be men of purity that do not invite them in to our homes via the television and the Internet.

Proverbs 6:6-11: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep? Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.” What about teaching our children to work hard? In the age of entitlements, it will be countercultural to do so.

These are just a few things that Solomon stressed when raising his children. Proverbs is a thorough handbook on child raising. But unlike Solomon, as disciples of Jesus Christ we must teach our children by how we live these commands, not just by telling them the words. It is dire that we do so; our country that once had some reverence for God has rejected Christ as king, and we must be willing not only to live for God now, but to pass on this knowledge of God to the next generation because God is being erased from our society. Do we love our children? We will tell them the truth and teach them to walk in truth.

Teach Them Early

Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

According to this verse, teaching needs to start early. My children are small, and I have not started early enough. They need to learn about the things of God as well as consequences for their actions as early as possible. We need to pray and take charge to do what is right, or our children will depart from the things of God just like our ungodly nation has.

Ephesians 6:4: “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”

Colossians 3:21: “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.”

From these parallel passages, we need to wisely train and teach our children, but in every way loving them. I love my children. I worry every day about the future they face in our world. I am concerned that they will reject Christ. I am concerned that they will live ungodly lives. But while I cannot control their life decisions when they grow up, I can control how I love them and teach them now. We must be willing to take that stand, so that our children will be saved and live for Christ.