05 Jun Kidnapped (Eph. 6:1-4) [Part 3]

We live in a crazy culture!  If you don’t believe me, I have one word for you… “Snooky!”  Only in a crazy culture can “Snooky” from the reality show “JerseyShore” become a cultural icon!

Last month I shared with you our key scripture in 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.”

We also began “6 Righteous Reasons to Rescue your Child:”

1. Teach your child to know the Father God and not just their mother church (Is. 54:13).
2. Parents must assume the role of leaders (Prov. 22:6).
3. Understand the two sides of discipline (Prov. 29:15).

Here the Bible tells us, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”  In conjunction with this scripture and our key scripture of Ephesians 6:1-4, last week we gave you two vital equations:

1)     Rod = nurture; physically controlled pain (i.e. biblical spanking)

2)     Reproof = admonition; verbal instruction

According to God’s Word, we need both to produce wisdom in our children.  Now I know much of the psychobabble today has denounced and derided spanking.  I would agree that spanking alone is not the solution in child training.  However, biblical spanking combined with biblical instruction will instill wisdom into our children!

Please allow me to show you the beauty and infinite wisdom of our God in this matter.  We live in a world system in which consequences to our choices don’t come until much later.  Then our pain becomes disassociated from our choice.

Imagine you are pounding a nail into a piece of wood and you accidentally whacked your thumb.  To your surprise, you felt absolutely no pain.  So you hit your thumb again…still no pain.  Therefore you did it again and again and again.  Six months later you are getting into your car when all of a sudden this tidal wave of pain sweeps over the thumb that you hit repeatedly.  You think, “I wonder where all this pain in my thumb is coming from?!”  It has been so long ago that you made the choice to hit your thumb, that you have disassociated your pain from your choice.

Have you noticed when the devil tempts you to make a sinful choice, he never shows you the consequences? (see Luke 4:5).  I did not get born again until I was 20.   Consequently I made some pretty poor choices before I had a relationship with Jesus!  I remember when I was 15, somehow I had managed to get a date with a popular 17-year old (she was clearly partially blind).  She had a reputation for being a drinker whereas I had never had a sip of alcohol in my life.  I had obtained a fake I.D. and was able to buy beer for this inauspicious date.

Now this is going to date me, but I took her to a Rod Stewart concert!  On the way to the concert I would take a couple sips of beer and yet pretend I was drinking the entire can to impress her.  I would then throw the almost entirely full can out the window as if I had finished the entire thing.  You could literally hear the “thud” as I threw the almost full beer can out the window!  It gets worse.  Not only did I pretend like I was drinking all of the beer, I also pretended like I was drunk at the concert…all to impress this older girl.  Sounds funny, huh?!

From that day on, I began to drink alcohol regularly and heavily.  Four years later I began to bleed internally, losing blood up to 18 times a day!  Funny, but the devil never did show me that picture!

The beauty and infinite wisdom of biblical spanking accompanied with biblical instruction, once again places consequences close to choice.  Your child now realizes (in a safe and loving environment) when I choose my choice, I also choose my consequences!

Christian moms and dads lie to their children all the time!  “How dare you, Pastor Jim…I would never lie to my kids!”  Unfortunately we do it all the time.  We tell our kids that sin is no fun.  However, the Bible teaches something totally different.  The Word of God tells us, “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season” (Heb. 11:25).

Clearly, this passage of scripture tells us that sin is fun “for a season”.  However, when the season is over…there is hell to pay.  Now all of a sudden, your 17-year old Christian boy finds himself in the back seat of a car smooching on his “forever love” that he met at his youth group.  He thinks back to his parents telling him sin is no fun and then wonders what other lies his parents may have told him!

You see, if we as parents can place consequences close to choice, we can help him or her overcome this crazy culture.  It is, however, so important that we as parents stay consistent in our child training.  No matter what kind of mood we are in, good or bad, no matter what kind of day we have had, good or bad, no matter what kind of sleep we have had, good or bad…we must stay consistent!

Remember the movie, “Home Alone”?  The little boy went absolutely wild at first but eventually as his new found freedom wore on, he actually bought a toothbrush and toothpaste as he began to remember his parent’s consistent training!

Let me show you what I do practically with our son, John.  If Johnathan does something rebellious (we only spank for blatant rebellion…never a child just being a child), I will call him over (I make sure I am never disciplining in anger).  We use a spatula to spank (we never use our hands…hands are for loving and blessing).  Cover the tail bone with your hand so you spank the part God made with meat on it!

Be cautious parents, because this is when your child can become a skilled defense attorney.  Johnathan will say, “Now daddy, let’s pray about this some more!”  I give one firm pop and let him cry while I hold him and love on him.  I then walk him through repentance towards God and towards man (see I John 1:9, II Cor. 8:21).  I always separate his “who” from his “do”.  In other words, I never tell him he is a bad boy!  I simply and gently tell him he is an awesome man of God, but what he did was unacceptable.  Men with such high callings shouldn’t make such low decisions.

I then share with him the appropriate scripture that fits the situation and have him repeat it back to me.  By that time, John is smiling and laughing and we are playing once again, and I don’t bring it up anymore (see Hebrews 8:12).

You see, the Bible does not say it is the rod that brings wisdom.  The Bible does not say it is reproof that brings wisdom.  The Bible says it is the rod AND reproof that brings wisdom when it comes to rescuing our children from a crazy culture!

Next week we’ll continue our series on “Kidnapped.”