22 May Kidnapped (Eph 6:1-4)
Have you ever had an abscessed tooth? If you have, you know there is almost an unlimited amount of pain! Conversely, here in the Nashville area, we have a modern dental facility called “Dental Bliss”. This high-dollar organization makes dental work seem almost like a vacation. They have a spa and massage on the premises and really the only discomfort is simply keeping your mouth open for an extended period of time.
We will all take a little controlled discomfort over unlimited pain! This principle is truly applicable when it comes to child training! Remember this example as we rescue our children from a crazy culture!
Let’s take a look at our text scripture for this series, Ephesians 6:1-4:
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honor thy father and mother; which is the first commandment with promise: That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.”
The word honor in verse three is the Greek word “timao”. It means “to prize or revere.” We get our English word “time” from it. In other words, what I truly honor is revealed by where I spend my time. In verse four, the Greek word translated provoke is “parorgizo” which means “to come along side and enrage”. This is created by giving our kids rules without relationship which will create rebellion.
The English phrase bring them up is one Greek word “ektrepho” which means “to cherish, feed or nourish”. The word nuture is the Greek word “paideia” which means to “tutor, educate or train by act.” The Greek word translated admonition is the word “nouthesia” which means to “place in mind or warn by calling to attention.” As we apply these powerful verses to our child training, we truly can rescue our children from a crazy culture!
Parents, we have more competition for the minds of our kids than ever before! From texts, tweets, cable, satellite, i-pads, i-pods, you-tube, MTV, VH1 and Facebook…never have our children been so bombarded by influences other than you! It is truly amazing when our kids are five we can do no wrong. When our kids are 15 we can do no right!
A couple of years ago, we flew in “the world’s strongest man” to augment a message I was doing for our men’s conference. He was 6’4” and weighed 440 pounds. At one point, he held the world record in the bench press of over 700 pounds! After his ministry, we were at a local restaurant and right there in the establishment he challenged me to arm wrestle. He was doing this in a fun, good-natured way but I am not one to back down from challenges!
I quickly calculated in my mind that if I lost (which was a likely occurrence), I could say I arm wrestled the world’s strongest man. If I held my own for a little bit of time, then maybe I would be the world’s 106th strongest man. If an angel were to momentarily help and a miracle occurred, then I wanted to be the new world’s strongest man! In my mind, it was a win-win-win situation! I did do pretty well and held my own for a little while, and then succumbed (I am now officially ranked 57th in the world…in my mind). I was pretty proud of myself considering I am almost 50 but I forgot one very important thing. Up until that moment, my 6-year old son truly did think I was the world’s strongest man! I don’t think I will forget his face when he discovered I wasn’t!
As our kids grow, they inevitably discover our faults and weaknesses, and that is one of the many reasons parenting is not easy. If we are not cautious, parents can grow weary and give up. We then lose control of our kids yet we still love them. So we prop them up and bail them out, and before you know it a vicious cycle occurs. The Bible tells us, “A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment; for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again”(Prov. 19:19). Therefore we better be grounded in a strong biblical philosophy to inoculate our children or they will be kidnapped by a crazy culture! The following should help:
6 Righteous Reasons to Rescue your Child:
- Teach your child to know the Father God and not just their mother church (Isaiah 54:13).
Here the Bible tells us, “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” I love the local church and in spite of its faults, it is the finest institution in the world. It truly is God’s place of safety, refuge and ministry in these last days (Is. 4:4-6)! However, it is not designed to do all of your child training! This world does not need any more “drug babies”. The church is full of them! You know what I mean…when they were little mamma “drug” them to church and now that they are old, they wouldn’t recognize God if He had a red hat on!
I am a very health oriented person! I’m not a “health nut” but I am nuts about my health. I take lots of vitamins and supplements. Supplements, however, are not a substitute for a piece of grilled salmon or fresh broccoli. They are just that…they are supplements. We also need the real thing!
The primary place where a child should learn to be “taught of the Lord” is at home. Church is simply a Sunday (or Saturday and Sunday in our case) and Wednesday “supplement”. Your home is the “salmon and broccoli”. If not, our kids can become “church-wise” but “God-foolish”. They will know the lingo but not their Lord! They will have a relationship with their “mother church” but not their Father God!
My son Johnathan, is obviously a “P.K.” (a pastor’s kid) and of course “P.K.’s” can be notorious for knowing their mother church but not their Father God. When John was about four, he would inquire about getting Jesus in his heart. However, I purposely waited until John knew that he knew that he knew that he knew he was a sinner and needed a Savior. He was hungry to be “saved” (Matt. 5:6). There is a delicate balance here and you certainly don’t want to wait too long, but I wanted him to know Jesus and have his own personal experience with his Christ…not his mommy and daddy’s Christ. I wanted him to be able to look back to when he was five and be anchored in the fact that he had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not that he was a pastor’s kid or simply that he grew up in church. This is not Christianity by osmosis, and there are no grandkids in the kingdom of God…just born again children.
I wanted Johnathan to be “taught of the Lord”. In order to truly do this, parents you must understand the “Three Levels of Learning”. This is probably the most important thing I can share with you in child training. It will revolutionize your parenting! Unfortunately, we will have to discuss this next time as we rescue our children from a crazy culture.
Remember…a little consistent discomfort is always better than unlimited pain!