Defining our Role in the Family Part 3

The Roles of Parents and Children

Ephesians 5:22-6:4

Introduction:  We’ve learned that the role of husband and wife pictures the relationship between Christ and the church.  Family roles imitate the role relationship between the Father and the Son as well.  Just as the relationship between Jesus as Husband and the church as His bride operate for the honor and glory of God so too the role between parent and child.  By fulfilling our purpose as individuals and role within the family we accomplish and fulfill our purpose individually and corporately.  The result of each member working out and fulfilling his purpose and role in the family is a unity where each is fulfilled and defined in their relationship to the other members.  Operating in unity and proficiency honors God. 

Review and Reflect

·         The Husband’s Core Role Concerns

o       Companionship

o       Security

o       Significance

·         The Wife’s Core Role Concerns

o       Companionship

o       Support

o       Admiration

o       Responsiveness

Re-Focus

We are raising today the generation of tomorrow and we don’t get a second chance.  Parents have just one generation to get it right.  One man put it best when he wrote that we are just one generation away from barbarism.  Experts attribute the fear, cynicism, and lost innocence of our children to something basic; the breakdown of the family. 

Karl Zinsmeister states, “We talk about the drug crisis, the educational crisis, and the problems of teen pregnancy and juvenile crime.  But all these ills trace back to one major source: broken families.”   

Kids model and mirror what they see. Their attitudes and habits are a reflection and amplification of what they see and learn from us, the previous generation.  It is more imperative than ever today that children see Christ in us living through us.  Our Christianity should be more than just a shell or façade.  This is why it is imperative that we look to God and His word to pattern our lives after not only on a personal level, but on a family and community level as well. 

Children’s Core Role Concerns

·         Companionship

·         Honor/Respect

·         Instruction

·         Modeling

Parent’s Core Role Concerns

·         Companionship

·         Nurturing

·         Teaching

·         Discipline

·         Modeling

Ephesians 6:1-4; Colossians 3:20; Deuteronomy 6

2 Samuel 13-17

Exasperate, Embitter, Ensnare

1.      Over-Protection of especially of boys, makes them effeminate.

2.      Favoritism

3.      Discouragement

4.      Squelching Self-identity by encouraging duplication of thought, pattern, value.

5.      Neglect

6.      Bitter Words and Physical Abuse

Conclusion