Parents Role Part 1

Intro

My mom loved children. To her they were never a burden and always a blessing. I honestly can’t remember a time when my mother or father complained about having to raise children.

My mom would always have all the kids at her house. She would often feed them and love on them.

There is only one occasion where my mother was not happy with a neighbor child.

Tell the story of neighbor girl...

Children don’t come with an instruction manual. We parent based on how we were parented

Q. What advice have you received from family or friends when you first became a parent? Was it good or bad?

Reminder of this series

(Show pic)

Children are a Blessing

Psalm 127 HCSB

A Solomonic song of ascents. 1 Unless the Lord builds a house, its builders labor over it in vain; unless the Lord watches over a city, the watchman stays alert in vain. 2 In vain you get up early and stay up late, working hard to have enough food— yes, He gives sleep to the one He loves. 3 Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, children, a reward. 4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons born in one’s youth. 5 Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them. Such men will never be put to shame when they speak with their enemies at the city gate.

Vv. 1-2

There are two possibilities in building a house. It will either be the Lord’s doing or it will be pointless; there is no third option.

v.2

Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary Fruitless Efforts? (127:1, 2)

It is not simply that our projects will fail—there is at least ‘bread’ to show for them—but that they lead nowhere. In terms of verse 1, the house and city may survive, but were they worth building?

speak about the Lord’s overall blessing over a house, and that without trust and reliance on Him first, those in the house labor and toil in vain. All effort is in vain without the Lord.

Vv. 3-5 show one of the blessings of having a family (a home) is children. The ESV says “Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.” And verse 5: “Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them.”

Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary Living Assets (127:3–5)

And it is not untypical of God’s gifts that first they are liabilities, or at least responsibilities, before they become obvious assets. The greater their promise, the more likely that these sons will be a handful before they are a quiverful.

Important note for those without children: the Bible does not say that having children completes us as humans or that we are somehow inadequate if we cannot have children (or choose not to). Rather, that children are a blessing from God.

Genesis 1:26–28 HCSB

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. 28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.”

. Within this decision by the Triune God to create man and woman, there are some blessings and responsibilities. Responsibilities included: having dominion over animals and working the earth (post-Fall).

And I used to think “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” was a command. But it is actually called a blessing, which is what the text says right before “Be fruitful…”

V. 28a – “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.”

So from the beginning of world, God has blessed us with the awesome ability to have children. To raise families.

Role of the Parent

Most people think taking care of their children refers to physical needs only. But Luke 2:52 shows that Jesus grew in four ways: physically, socially, spiritually and in wisdom.

Luke 2:52 HCSB

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and with people.

Jesus grew in wisdom, physically, spiritually and socially

Q. What are some of the needs of children?

Q. How can I meet those needs as a parent?

Knowing this big responsibility is mine as a parent, I feel inadequate. I often think other parents are doing a better job, and sometimes I struggle with wanting to just be like other parents. I doubt I am alone in this feeling.

Spiritual Growth

Deuteronomy 6:1–9 HCSB

1 “This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the Lord your God has instructed me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess. 2 Do this so that you may fear the Lord your God all the days of your life by keeping all His statutes and commands I am giving you, your son, and your grandson, and so that you may have a long life. 3 Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. 7 Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

- The greatest commandment is to love the Lord with everything, echoed in Matthew 22:36-40

- It includes loving the Lord with our heart (emotionally/intellectually), soul (spiritually) and might (physically). While not an exhaustive description of what makes up a person, it represents the whole person

- How does it look?

o Deut. 6:7 – teach them about God

o Deut. 6:7 – talk with them about God

o Deut. 6:7 – do these two things when you sit, walk, lie down, rise in the morning

o Deut. 6:8 – it should be so central that it is like you are wearing God’s Word on your hands and on your foreheads

o Deut. 6:9 – it should be so central within your home that it is like God’s Word is written on your doorposts and on your gates

- So the parent is responsible for leading in this most important task of spiritual growth.

Conclusion

Children are a blessing

It is the responsibility of the parent to raise children Spiritually.