Nourishing Your Children In The Word

2 Timothy 3:14–15 (ESV)

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

Timothy knew the scriptures so well (because of his faithful mother and grandmother)

made him wise for salvation, (had taught him the OT in such a way to look for expectantly and hear about Jesus and receive Jesus as Messiah, NOT to see what had been taught in a overly LAW driven way.)

that he had become a traveling teacher for the church in both Lystra and Iconium. (Acts 16:1)

Paul could tell this had been taught to Timothy from infancy.

God’s intent for us as parents in the home is to saturate our children with the scriptures.

We want them to be able to look back and see that as the foundation on which they made their life changing choice to follow Jesus as Lord of their lives.

Disciple-Making Parents nourish their children with the Word of God.

FEED YOUR CHILDREN

Hopefully you feed your children well!

All three of our girls have different appetites.

Everlee, it seems like we have to stay on her about eating something way more than Hadlee and McKinlee.

Everlee is the one that we have to get creative in trying to feed her food. Finding some way to get her to receive it, chew her food and swallow it.

Our children obviously have this physical need for physical food.

Our children also have this need for spiritual nutrition.

Matthew 4:4 ESV

4 But he answered, “It is written, “ ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Children are included in this statement.

One of the reasons for the Israelites feeding on Mana was for them to know that man does not live by bread alone… (Also John 6)

Deuteronomy 8:3 ESV

3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

It is by His Word that we have life given to us and that our lives are sustained.

Our Children need the Word of God as nutrition for their souls.

Thinking of God’s Word as our spiritual food will help our study on the more practical side of this in deciding how to impart God’s Word to our children.

It will help us see that cooking (teaching) is both a duty and a delight.

Multiple Meals during the week and even day is needed. One BIG meal once a week is not enough.

What was nourishing when we were children doesn’t work as we get older. (in amount)

Most of the time, eating is pleasurable for children and not a duty.

Nutritional habits are watched by children and copied from what they see in their parents.

Variety is the spice of life.

Ultimate goal is to train our children to feed themselves.

Thinking of the Word of God with our children as food will greatly help us in our distribution of it over the years.

Even as we talk about all the different dishes that we can serve.

Teaching Your Duty and Delight

Becoming a teacher of the Word of God is one of the greatest endeavors you will ever begin.

It is also commanded by God’s Word and told to us parents over and over again that this is what we should be doing within our homes.

This is our responsibility.

We are the ones who are to be taking up the helm here…

Deuteronomy 6:6 (ESV)

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

Psalm 78:5–6 ESV

5 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,

Joel 1:3 ESV

3 Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.

Like I said… this is something that God will grow you through. It’s impossible to not grown in God’s Word when we are teaching God’s Word.

It’s always the teacher that will many times get more out of it than the students.

To teach our children means that we better learning the material ourselves. Studying the passages that may be unclear to be able to give better answers when those questions arise.

Bettis says,

Becoming a teacher is part of God’s maturing process (Heb. 5:12). Remember, we never really know something until we can articulate it. Articulation deepens comprehension.

Research Backs Up This Need

Research backs up the command for parents being the ones to teach the bible to their children…

-Mark DeVries summarizing The Search Institutes National Study of Protestant Congregations…

The particular family experiences most tied to greater maturity were the frequency with which an adolescent talked with his mother and father about faith, the frequency of family devotions and the frequency with which parents and children together were involved in efforts, formal or informal, to help other people.

We see here that the bible is right about itself.

That it is sufficient for all things pertaining to life and Godliness.

2 Timothy 3:14–17 (ESV)

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

And for the ultimate goal… of making them wise for salvation!

The Right Goal - Wise Unto Salvation

What is the why for us to be teaching them the scriptures?

We must try our best to understand the goal to help us in directing this…

the tendency is to simplify this and say well because they need to know God’s Word. They need to know how to act or what to do.

Knowing our goal is very important.

We must know… that it is for the sake of the Gospel. For them to know Jesus Christ.

We want to discipline our homes in such a way to keep that goal in mind.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 (ESV)

24 Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25 Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Even the Pharisees knew the Scriptures. But they knew it in such a way to where when they saw Jesus… they wanted to crucify him.

This brings up this important tension between law and grace…

When exemplifying either one of those… we must keep the main thing the main thing.

Our goals keep us focused.

And our Goal is for our children to know God through knowing His Son Jesus Christ by grace through faith.

Here are some goals spelled out more specifically given to us by Bettis…

We want our children to know the Scriptures in order to know Jesus Christ.

John 6:32–35 ESV

32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

John 6:40 ESV

40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

2. We want our children to have a deposit of knowledge.

True biblical instruction is both filling a bucket and lighting a fire. (In response to Williams Yeats quote.)

1 Timothy 6:20 (ESV)

20 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”

2 Timothy 1:14 (ESV)

14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

Children must know God through these truths in the bible taught to them by their parents.

We see R.C Ryle give a great reason to be giving them this great deposit of knowledge…

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is the foundation of all clear views of religion. He that is well-grounded in it will not generally be found a waverer, and carried about by every wind of new doctrine.

3. We want our children to have a love for learning the Bible.

We want them to know God through His Word and show them how God’s Word helps direct us in life’s most messy of times.

I want my children to love God’s Word because they see their father and mother love God’s Word throughout their time growing up.

4. We want our children to hear from the Lord in the Word.

During this… we will show our children that the reason I go to God’s Word is so that I can hear directly from the Lord through His Word.

Let’s teach our children how to

How to hear God.

How to come to God’s Word with a problem and allow them to hear what He has to say.

How to take every intrusive sinful thought captive objectively by the Word of God.

How to study the Word of God to have a theological understanding of who God is, to understand certain doctrines and how that influences our actions…

We just witnessed in New Orleans a few weeks ago about how THEOLOGY MATTERS.

Our Road Map

HOW DO WE ACCOMPLISH THIS?

Deuteronomy 6:6–9 ESV

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Instruction for parents here:

Delight in the commands of God.

Teach the commands of God.

Talk about the commands of God.

Tattoo the commands of God.

Delight in the Word Yourself

Deuteronomy 6:6 (ESV)

6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

If we want our children to know God by His Word.

We must ask ourselves, am I currently knowing God by His Word?

Am I abiding in Him by His Word?

Am I delighting in His Word?

Am I reading, studying, listening to the preaching of, and memorizing God’s Word?

Am I allowing the Word of God to correct, reproof, teach and train me for righteousness?

Do we believe the Word of Jesus when He said…

John 6:32–35 ESV

32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

We must delight abiding in Christ before our children do.

An Aroma of Delight

Let us as parents, make sure that throughout this whole section of talking about how to immerse our children in the things of the Word, let us not lose sight of OUR DELIGHT.

With the right attitude of DELIGHT…

not law..

not fear…

but DELIGHT…

Disciple-Making Parents will nourish their children with the Word of God.

Make sure families are pursuing family worship.

For Thought, Discussion, & Action.

What verse is the road my to teaching our children at home? Let’s talk about the first one. These commands are to be on your heart. How do we delight in the Word as parents? What is our example teaching our children about our view of the Word?

How does thinking about the Word as food make you look forward to different ways of preparing it for your children?