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Deut. 11:18-25
We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can download our service on iTunes or tune in for “The Good Word” each day on AM 1230 WSAL or on Hoosier Country 103.7 FM just after 8am. In the grand scheme of things it seems as though our 1st Crusader Thursday on Sept. 8th was just last week. Time passes quickly doesn’t it! David says in Ps. 103, “for God knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.” Ask a child how long they think 18 years is and they will probably tell you about as long as one of my sermons! Why 18 years? Because at 18 years old, in our culture and society is when our children are graduated from high school and begin life on their own! So if we use Moses’ example and 80 years is our “minute” here on earth, we have just a couple seconds to teach our children before they begin life on their own. Reality is that by the time they reach mid-elementary, they have already begun to form their own convictions about life. We all know the “do what I say, not what I do” philosophy doesn’t work! On the other hand the “what you do speaks so loudly I can’t hear what you say” attitude does work! So, the question becomes; what do your children “hear you do!” So that brings us to our passage this morning in Prov. 22:6. Throughout Scripture God always puts the primary responsibility of instruction on the father! Teaching most often is Mom’s responsibility. What is the difference? Instruction is defining what must be learned; teaching is demonstrating how the instructions are learned. Now listen, watch, listen! Here is how God intends for this to work. Dad is responsible to get into the Word and study. As Dad learns what God expects from His adopted children, he has a 2 pronged responsibility: 1 = he must study the Scriptures and live its doctrines in his own life. Not only is a man responsible to study the Scriptures and live his life in harmony with them, he is responsible before God 2 = to teach to his wife how she is to teach Biblical principles to the children. So with that let’s consider:
I.THE PARENTS’ RESPONSIBILITY = train up a child. Almost without exception the Hebrew concept of the word train insisted that the child was to begin learning the simplest truths of right and wrong as early as possible in the child’s life. So, how early in is as early as possible in a child’s life. Read Isa. 28:9, 10. The point being made in Scripture is that it is the responsibility of the parents to teach their children the Scriptures. Our Crusader program is not now, and was never intended to be the primary means for your children to learn the Scriptures. We might be your assistant teachers, but your assistant is all we can be! So parents the question is; to what have you dedicated your children to learning about the truth of right and wrong to this point in their life? Your parental responsibility to train your child carries with it:
II. A PROPER ROUTINE = in the way he should go. Another way to say this is “in the way God intends for all people to walk during this life on earth.” The right direction in life can be found only through a personal relationship in salvation with The Lord Jesus Christ. People prefer to believe they can come up with their own way and their own terms by which they will please God. Those same people then expect God to bless them, and receive them into His heaven, because they have been deceived into believing God is only good, loving, merciful, and forgiving; and they have not been taught that because He is all of those things He must also be righteous and just punishing all sin and evil to the fullest extent! When parents themselves become men and women of God, they train their children to become men and women of God. Finally, let’s consider
III. PATTERN FOR RESOLUTION. Every Christian parent wants their children to grow up and live a life dedicated to Christ. When Christian parents dedicate their own lives to Christ and invest in their children’s lives while they are young and at home, parents often think, “of course my children will continue to live the way we are teaching them. We all know Christian parents who have experienced heartbreak when their children leave home and leave their godly training packed up and tucked away in the closet with other childhood memorabilia! Hence, 1 reason for the proverbs! One writer defines a proverb as a literary device whereby a general truth is brought to bear on a specific occasion. He continues, “many of the Proverbs are not absolute guarantees for they expressed truths that are necessarily conditioned by prevailing circumstances.” Here is a biblical truth to remember: Scripture always teaches us how to be wise from God’s perspective, but it never forces us to apply its wisdom to our daily living! The prophet Isaiah told Israel, “this is the way, walk in it.” But no where do we read God ever forced Israel, or anyone else, to follow Him! If He did God would be a legalist! Each week your children have come to Crusaders we have made a sincere and serious effort to direct each of them in the way they should go. Parents it is your great responsibility to continue to teach them that way for the rest of your life!
If we can help you with your spiritual questions, call us at 574-643-9419.
