Parenting Well in this Crazy Life

DISMISS BLAST

TURN TO PSALM 127

INTRODUCTION

Many years ago, a police officer on night duty in a city in northern England came across a little girl shivering and crying. When the policeman approached her and asked her what was wrong, she said, “I’m lost and can’t find my way home.” The policeman tried to help the little girl remember where she lived and he started naming street after street in the area but the little girl was so tired and scared that she couldn’t even remember her street name. As the policeman then started to name familiar landmarks in town, the little girl immediately spoke up and said “the cross!” “the cross!” “take me to the cross!”

You see, there was a large cross in the middle of that town and the little girl’s family lived across the street from the cross. Her parents had told her “If you ever get lost, go to the cross.”

Our number one goal as parents in this crazy life is to point our kids to Jesus.

There are many things that we do—make sure they’re getting a good education. Shuttling them from practice to school to appointments to birthday parties. Listen to me…let me remind you of the verse we read at the beginning of last week’s message…Mary & Martha…

Luke 10:41–42 (ESV)

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.

Our number one goal as parents in this crazy life is to point our kids to Jesus.

Psalm 127 (ESV)

A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.

Unless the Lord builds the house,

those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.

It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior

are the children of one’s youth.

Blessed is the man

who fills his quiver with them!

He shall not be put to shame

when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Our number one goal as parents in this crazy life is to point our kids to Jesus.

Three components to parent well in this crazy life:

(The first way we can point our kids to Jesus)…

Priorities

(VERSE 1a)

PARENTS—YOU set the priorities for your family. Maybe you need to take a priority inventory.

Have we “over committed” our families to things—even good things? Are we, again, like Martha in Luke 10 — distracted by good things when one thing is necessary? We want to raise well-rounded kids but are we raising spiritually developed kids? Are we raising kids to know and love Jesus—the only thing that matters in eternity?

There are two things that I think we, as parents, MUST set as priorities for our families:

Set the priority for Family Worship.

The Word Together

Pray Together

Set the priority for Corporate Worship.

Note: Notice the heading of this Psalm. It’s a “Song of Ascents.” This was part of a collection of songs that Jewish pilgrims would sing as they ascended—walked up—Mt. Zion to the temple for worship festivals.

Some of you have let apathy and laziness towards the things of God build your house.

Joshua 24:14–15 (ESV)

But as for me and my HOUSE, we will serve the Lord.”

CHOOSE—it’s not forced on you. You have a choice. “Well, we don’t really have a choice. I mean, we’ve GOT to travel with this sports team on the weekend.” “We don’t really have a choice…our kids HAVE to make good grades to stay in this school/get these scholarships so they’ve got to stay home on Wednesday nights to study.”

THIS DAY—today. The choice is to be made today. Don’t put it off until tomorrow. “Well, when we get out of this season of life…we’ll get back into church. When we’re finished with baseball or dance or ________ then we’ll make church a priority again. We’re just tired today. We need a break today.

We’ve “cheapened” our view of the Church and our family’s involvement/commitment to the Church. Sunday has gone from being the Lord’s Day where the whole day was set apart for worship and rest to giving two hours every Sunday to the Lord for Worship and the rest of the day for everything else to, now, giving occasional Sunday’s to the Lord for corporate worship.

Here’s the key—dependence on the Lord. Unless the Lord is building your house, it’s all in vain. GOD’S blueprint for the family and the home.

Men—spiritual leaders//take the lead.

“In vain.” There’s another imagery of house-building in Scripture—Jesus’s parable about the wise man and the foolish man (building your house on the rock vs. the sand).

Your house is GOING to be built—Who and how are you building?

The second component to parenting well and pointing our kids to Jesus is…

Protection

(VERSE 1b)

Look, again, at verse 2…

Psalm 127:2 (ESV)

It is in vain that you rise up early

and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

for he gives to his beloved sleep.

I know that there are anxious nights. I know there are nights when you lie awake and cry out to God interceding/fighting for your kids.

Listen to me right here, anxious parents/worried parents…if you don’t hear anything else I say this morning I want you to lean in on this…take this as a guarantee.

God loves your children infinitely more than you ever could.

This is why Solomon says, in verse 3, that children are a heritage—a gift—from the Lord.

I know that we all agree that good parents provide protection for their kids. We protect them from harm. We try to protect them from sicknesses. But, listen to me, parents—we cannot drop the ball on the spiritual protection of our kids.

The world/the culture is doing everything in its power to indoctrinate our children. It is seeping in slowly but surely. The new sexual revolution/norm is being spoon-fed to our kids and we are letting it happen.

Slipping it into kid’s t.v. shows. Lyrics (examples).

How do we provide protection? Disciple them! Say no! Set boundaries! God sets boundaries for us.

Raising our kids in holiness.

The third component of parenting well and pointing our kids to Jesus is…

Preparation

(VERSE 3-5)

Solomon describes the blessing of children in three different ways—heritage, reward, and arrows…and not just any arrow—a warrior’s arrow.

An arrow in the hand of a warrior was an offensive weapon intended to hit a long distance target.

The effectiveness of the arrow depended upon the strength and aim of the warrior.

An arrow is ineffective and useless if it is KEPT in the quiver. They’re meant to be shot.

To quote author Jonathan Haidt from his book, The Coddling of the American Mind, “There’s an old saying: “Prepare the child for the road, not the road for the child.”

Discipleship begins in the home.

Proverbs 22:6 (ESV)

Train up a child in the way he should go;

even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Jonathan Akin—Instead of being a promise that if you do right, your children will turn out right, it is a reverse promise—a warning—that if you do not correct your children when they are young, they will run amok wanting their own way as an adult.

[Jonathan Akin, Exalting Jesus in Proverbs, ed. David Platt, Daniel L. Akin, and Tony Merida, Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2017), 135.}

In Hebrew, there is no word “should” in this verse. It literally says— “Train up/Start a child in his way.” So, what does it mean to “train a child/start a child on his way?”

Exalting Jesus in Proverbs (Is “Train up a Child” a Promise? (Proverbs 22:6))

You see, the best interpretation of Proverbs 22:6 is sort of sarcastic: Let a child have his way when he is young, and when he is old, he will continue to insist on having his way (Clifford, Proverbs, 197). In other words, if you start by letting a young person have his own way, he will continue on that dead-end road when he grows up. Thus, this verse is the flip side of a promise; it is a warning that parents must correct their children’s foolish character before it is set. Children left to their own devices will destroy themselves.

Exalting Jesus in Proverbs (Is “Train up a Child” a Promise? (Proverbs 22:6))

The main point is clear. Proverbs says that left to themselves, children will choose the wrong and destructive path. Human beings are not innocent, basically good, or wise. The parental task is to intervene before folly is set and our kids walk off toward hell.

Listen…your kids need preparation for the world and for a life of following Jesus—and the primary place for that is the home. The greatest priority for our kids is that they love Jesus. Look, that’s what Kristy and I want most for our kids. Do we want them to make good grades? Sure! Go to college? Sure! Be successful? Sure! Get married and have families? YES YES AND YES

But, more than anything else, we want them to know and love Jesus…that’s the preparation they need most.

Our number one goal as parents in this crazy life is to point our kids to Jesus.

CONCLUSION

This morning we’ve had parent/baby dedication. Maybe as a parent—maybe even as a whole family—there needs to be a rededication. A rededication as a parent.

Praying for a lost child/prodigal child

Lost—as a father or mother…you need to be saved.