Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

It’s Father’s Day - happy Father’s Day, dads - and since we didn’t do anything to recognize Mother’s Day, I thought that it would be good to speak this morning to both moms and dads, and grandparents, and great-grandparents, and everyone who influences younger generations.

I thought that there was nothing as exciting as the birth of our children, but I’ve been just as delighted with each of our grandchildren.

But there is also a weight to bringing kids into the world.

Children are not little bundles of pure joy and light; they are sinners who must come to faith in Jesus Christ, or suffer eternal consequences.

Praise God, the Bible is full of wisdom on raising a godly generation.

This morning let’s look at , where we’ll find five principles to raising a godly generation.

Raise Your Children to Obey God

Raise

We must teach our children the commandments of God, and teach them to keep them.

gives us the pattern we are to follow:

deu 11

Raise Your Children to Obey God

We want to see our children, and our grand-children, live in holiness and peace with God; we want them to know His blessings.

So, they must learn His commands, and learn to obey Him with a whole heart.

1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, 2 for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.

Can they truly do this without being born again?

No, they can’t.

God’s part is to save them.

Our part is to raise them to believe.

says,

rom 8

Our responsibility is to raise our children to understand who God is and what He commands; God’s responsibility is to grant our children faith and eternal life.

The Lord doesn’t call us to save our kids; He calls us to raise them according to His Word.

It’s a challenge; we need to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord without provoking them to anger because of unreasonable expectations or impossible goals.

Pray for wisdom, think, be patient, love them, and be consistent.

This is our responsibility, parents and grandparents.

The Lord doesn’t call us to save our kids; He calls us to raise them according to His Word.

It’s a challenge; we need to bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord without provoking them to anger because of unreasonable expectations or impossible goals.

Pray for wisdom, think, be patient, love them, and be consistent.

Raise Your Children to be Mature in Love and Devotion

We know that salvation is by grace and through faith, but before anyone can seek the forgiveness of God, and eternal life through Jesus Christ, they must understand His holiness and the nature of their sin.

We must teach our children the commandments of God, and to keep those commandments.

We know that salvation is by grace and through faith, but before anyone can seek the forgiveness of God, and eternal life through Jesus Christ, they must understand His holiness and the nature of their sin.

they are going to have to come face to face with His will and commands.

We want to see our children, and our grand-children, live in holiness and peace with God; they are going to have to come face to face with His will and commands.

But is less about the commands themselves, and more about what our kids are to do with them.

While we start with simple obedience – don't steal – we must move our kids on to the principles at play – respect others those made in God's image, trust God to provide for your needs.

This is what we see take place in .

First, the command is given:

10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

But there's more to consider.

Solomon wanted his son to think about what was taking place, so he gives an example:

 If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason; 12 like Sheol let us swallow them alive, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; 13 we shall find all precious goods, we shall fill our houses with plunder; 14 throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”

And then he explains what not consenting looks like:

15 my son, do not walk in the way with them; hold back your foot from their paths

And he also explains WHY we should not consent to those who entice us to evil:

 for their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed blood.

17 For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, 18 but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives.

19 Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain; it takes away the life of its possessors.

These sinners will one day receive the due punishment for their violence and wickedness.

Their greed will take away their lives.

So we need to teach our children the basic lesson, "Don't let sinners entice you," and then explain what that means, so that they can think biblically, live wisely, and know the blessings of God.

We must teach our children to know and obey the commands of God, but we must do more.

We must teach our children to take God’s commands personally, and grow into steadfast love and faithfulness.

Where speak of teaching our children the lessons they need to learn, speak of cultivating godly character into our children.

Steadfast love is not emotional love; it’s not affection, or fondness, or passion.

It is chesed, a Hebrew word that encompasses love, grace, mercy, kindness, and commitment.

It’s mature love, not infatuation; sustaining love, not love-at-first-sight; it’s sacrificial devotion to another, not selfish dependance upon another.

Faithfulness is dependability, constancy, commitment, stability, going the right way.

Much of the time it refers to truth and truthfulness.

The person who is ’emet, faithful, is a person who can be relied upon to do the right thing and is utterly trustworthy.

These are not the first lessons of maturity, are they?

They are really the apex of mature life, but we must begin teaching our children to take hold of steadfast love and faithfulness when they are young.

Solomon used two figures of speech to describe the value of these character traits.

Bind them around your neck = adorn yourself with these traits.

Jesus says in ,

Adorn yourself in such a way that you give others every reason to glorify God.

Write them on the tablet of your heart = get them into your heart and take them personally.

Get them into your soul.

Memorize them, yes, but more: believe them, rest in them, trust in them, cling to them.

I think this is what Paul had in mind when he wrote the Philippians,

Train your children, and train yourself, to repeat the

How do we get these traits deeply into our lives?

We keep them in our minds, think about them, ponder them, repeat them to ourselves, look for them in our lives, confess when we fail to think this way, pray for the help of the Spirit of God to remember and act on what we have learned.

think about them, ponder them, repeat them to ourselves, look for them in our lives, confess when we fail to think this way, pray for the help of the Spirit of God to remember and act on what we have learned.

Raise Your Children to Fully Trust God

We must teach our children to obey the commands of God, and to cultivate godly character.

We must teach our children that God is holy and trustworthy, and they ought to trust Him completely.

Hebrew poetry and wisdom literature is built upon repetition, and we can see significant repetition of ideas in these verses.

Hebrew poetry and wisdom literature is built upon repetition, and we can see significant repetition of ideas in these verses.

These verses actually

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and in all your ways acknowledge Him and fear the Lord build upon each other.

We could even say that the way we trust Him with all our heart is by acknowledging Him in all our ways, and that if we rightly fear Him, we will trust Him and acknowledge Him.

We could even say that the way we trust Him with all our heart is by acknowledging Him in all our ways, and that if we rightly fear Him, we will trust Him and acknowledge Him.

Do not lean on your own understanding and be not wise in your own eyes and turn away from evil also build upon each other.

If we truly know the limits of our own understanding, it will be easier to turn away from the sin of thinking that we are wise.

If we will trust the Lord, not ourselves; and acknowledge Him in all our ways, rather than being our own source of wisdom; and fear the Lord so much that we turn away from evil; then the Lord makes a promise to us: He will make our paths straight, and bring healing to our flesh and refreshment to our bones.

says,

Life is hard; we need to trust the Creator

Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

(First Peter 4:19).

Listen, life is hard, no matter who you are or how you live.

Without question, some people make their lives far harder than they have to be.

But you know, life is still a struggle for every single person on earth.

Everyone knows who Kim Jong-un is, the dictator of North Korea.

His reign is brutal; he stands right up their with Pol Pot, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hitler.

You might think that, hateful as he is, he at least has life under control.

But he is also a human being, created in the image of God, and he is utterly separated from his creator by sin.

What’s more, his sin nature is completely unrestrained by normal society.