Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning, I want to start talking about something that ties in with the direction of discipleship training that we are going in with our church.

I have entitled this message, “Train Up A Child”, and it may cover several upcoming messages, as Holy Spirit so leads.

I specifically felt led to title it this way, because of the very popular verse from .

Within this verse of wisdom that the wise King Solomon gave us, is a more broad understanding than that which many people read it to have.

We always teach this verse simply to mean, “instruct your child about life and teach your child about the Bible and when they are grown, they will not leave it, or walk away from it”.

There is, however, a greater understanding of this passage.

This verse, is a verse of wisdom, as are all of Solomon’s teachings.

And withing this proverb we can see a guideline that is to be followed.

The word “train”, as we see in the opening of this passage, is the Hebrew word, chanak, and it means not only to train up, but it is also commonly used as to DEDICATE.

Dedicate what, however?

Well, the passage says to “train” or “dedicate” them in “the way”, which can be translated as “his way”, or “the child’s way”, “the way that he should go”.

This, has the implication, that each child has his/her own abilities and strength and gifts and a path in life to walk.

Our focus is to not try and change them into what we want them to be, or the path we want them to walk and all the while showering them with God’s word in order to validate our efforts; but rather we should dedicate/ train them in the Word Of God and allow this to foster what God has equipped them to do and

with the gifts and strengths He has already given them!

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The parent, or whoever is involved with the young person, is to then dedicate the child to walking their path, in accordance to the only true and successful way of life.

You see, in Proverbs, there are only two ways to go; the way of he foolish or the way of the wise!

The way of the wise, is in accordance with all of God’s will and design; the way of the foolish, is that of each person’s own desires and thus that of the world!

So, train up/dedicate the child/youth, to the path of wisdom (God’s will and His word) in their early development and the outcome of such training is predictable as shown by the end of this passage, which reads, “When he is old.......”.

This simply means what it says; they became old, which is a reward in his/her life.

How many of you know that aging is a reward, a blessing, not a curse; as so many in modern times try to refute it and reverse it for vanity's sake!

Mankind pays great amounts of money to cling to this temporal youth, which is foolishness and all the while, they are missing the eternal youth that is yet to come!

True wisdom, as the Proverbs teach, comes not from your appearance, (a.k.a.

your vanity), but rather from your reverence and love and relationship with God almighty! .

Chuck Swindoll told about the guy who fell in love with an opera singer.

He hardly knew her, since his only view of the singer was through binoculars--from the third balcony.

But he was convinced he could live happily ever after married to a voice like that.

He scarcely noticed she was considerably older than he.

Nor did he care that she walked with a limp.

Her mezzo-soprano voice would take them through whatever might come.

After a whirlwind romance and a hurry-up ceremony, they were off for their honeymoon together.

She began to prepare for their first night together.

As he watched, his chin dropped to his chest.

She plucked out her glass eye and plopped it into a container on the nightstand.

She pulled off her wig, ripped off her false eyelashes, yanked out her dentures, unstrapped her artificial leg, and smiled at him as she slipped off her glasses that hid her hearing aid.

Stunned and horrified, he gasped, "For goodness’ sake, woman, sing, sing, SING"

So, back to our passage, the predictable outcome for someone who is dedicated/trained up in the way of wisdom is that they will walk their path with that wisdom into their old age; it is a spiritual GPS for them.

Contrary to some people’s mind set, however, it is not a promise or guarantee of that child’s path.

What I mean is this.

The Proverbs prescribe that which is wisdom in contrast to that which is foolish, but each person, as they grow and become their own adult (whether physically, or even spiritually speaking), will make their own decisions for their life and thus not always stick to the wisdom that they were taught early on.

The NT parable for this could be that of the Prodigal Son that Jesus taught us of in .

Both sons were brought up under the same father and teaching (theoretically) and yet the younger son decided to go off of the wise path and chase the world (the foolish path!)

The blessing shown from this parable and that which ties in with is that the taught/instilled wisdom of the young man came back to his mind and he returned to the right path (fully forgiven by the father, by the way).

BUT, there is no Biblical guarantee that this will happen just because you or I teach them, train and dedicate their spiritual walk to God’s design.

even mentions that there will be those who leave the path of uprightness (the morally correct path).

shows us that only with the true reverential fear and upright walk with the Lord, is a person’s path or steps then established and protected by the Lord.

It says that the person has to COMMIT their works to the Lord.

Well, if the person has to mindfully and willfully commit their life, their works to the Lord, then it is of his/her own FREE WILL that they choose to do so!

The training, the teaching and dedication of those who were instrumental in their physical/spiritual development does not thus ensure that the person will not take a different path!

The subject of apostasy (walking away/abandoning the wise and life giving path of righteousness) is mentioned and warned of throughout the NT gospels by Jesus as well as within the epistles.

So, the main point from this Proverb is summed as this: train up/dedicate the person in the wisdom and admonition of the Lord and it will help to focus and guide them into and throughout their physical/spiritual life.

Instill into their mind and heart the WORD OF GOD as a compass for their life; it serves as a lamp to their feet and a light for their path!

(But they must choose the WISE PATH!)

If they choose, in their life the wise path, then it will guide them into “old age” and if they have dedicated their life to that path and reaped the temporal blessing of age ,then they will likely never turn from it!

And with this training and dedication, there is a point that needs to be stressed over some different areas in dealing with a child’s life.

(By a child, I am speaking both of a physical/natural young child, as well as someone who is spiritually a child in their Christian development!)

It is here, at the understanding that there is a need for training up, both the physical child, as well as the spiritual child that we will move forward with today’s prime point and also as an emphasis as to why discipleship is so important for the church body!

An equally important part of bringing up a child, is not just your teaching them and training them, dedicating, them to the word and trying to pour it into their life; but also it is equally important that they be able to witness that you are living the life that you are trying to teach them about!

One of the greatest hypocritical things that you can do with a child is tell them, do as I say, not as I do! (God designed them to learn, not only by word and letter, but by observation.)

There are many psychological studies done on child development and learning and much of what they learn, is done through observation!

The Apostle Paul said in the ,

Do you see what Paul is asking?

Listen to Jesus’ teaching is in on the same line of logic,

Jesus is saying the same thing here; do not be a hypocrite and teach one thing and yet do another!

(This goes for everyone across the board, not just to the parents of children and teens, but all Christians!)

What you are saying should be matched up with what you are doing!

What is Paul saying?

Observe what I am doing and then you do as well!

“Observe those”...........are you getting this?

MENTION THE GUY AT DUNCAN DONUTS THIS MORNING!

Now that we have established a baseline for teaching and training up a child (that is, our actions and lifestyles matching up to our words) as we prepare those under us for their future walks in life, please allow me to make the main point of today’s sermon and apply this all to one particular area in our lives; and that area is, the honesty of our words!

How many of you remember when you were a kid and you wanted to know that if someone told you something, they really meant it and would go through with it?

(First of all, how many of you can remember when you were a kid?!)

You know, your friend said that they wouldn’t tell on you and so you would say, “DO YOU PROMISE?!!”

And they would say, “Yes”!

But that wasn’t good enough!

You needed hard core proof, right?!

So, what was the next logical step?

“Do you swear?”

“Oh, OK, yeah, I swear!”

But that still wasn’t good enough, was it?

So yo know what came next, right?!

“Do you PINKIE SWEAR?”

I mean, now it’s serious!

You have thrown the mother of all binding things into the mix, with the infamous “pinkie swear”!

There were others as well: “Do you swear on your mother’s name?”, or even more serious, “Do you swear on your mother’s grave?”

“But my mother isn’t dead!” (“That’s what I thought, you’re trying to weasel out of it already!”)

What about, “Cross my heart and hope to die; stick a needle in my eye!” Do you guys remember that one?

Or, each person would spit on their palms and then they would shake hands, as a binding oath!

The point is that we wanted to know that what we were being told was the truth and a simple “yes” or “no” wouldn’t cut it, right?

And just like everything else in our upbringing, we learn by experience and observation, right?

So, for many people, a simple, “Yes”, or, “I promise”, won’t be acceptable from others, because of that person’s past background and known integrity!

This carries forward into our adult lives as well!

You know my dad told me that when he was boy, in the town that he grew up in, if his grandfather needed money from the local bank, he would just go in and tell them what he needed and they would loan it to him, simply on his word to repay!

A person’s word, backed up by a handshake, was a binding agreement at one time!

Man, now you have to have something to use as collateral, sign a stack of papers 5 feet high, you have to give a blood donation and promise your firstborn to get a loan!

There is no more trust, because people have continually proven that they will not keep their words or their obligations!

A man’s word should be able to be taken as the literal truth, with no need of any special gestures, quirky statements or vows.

Especially if that person is a Christian!

Well, how serious of a matter is it to God, about our vows: 1st to Him and then to one another?