Notice to Parents Eph
Notice to Parents Eph. 6:4 Wednesday Night Bible Study 10/29/08
“Old Chinese Proverb, “one generation plants the trees another generation gets the shade. Our generation lives in the shade tress planted by another generation.
Putting this is spiritual terms- John MacArthur- described it like this, “we derive shade from our parents’ and grandparents’ ethical standards, their perceptions of right and wrong, their sense of moral duty, and above all, their spiritual commitment. Their ideals determined the kind of civilization we inherited from them, and our generation’s ideals will likewise shape tomorrow’s culture for our kid”. What kind of shade trees are we planting for our children/grandchildren?
I. The Breakdown of Society
A. The values of society today are out of sync with God’s divine standards.
1. The American court system sanctions the yearly massacre of innocent children but a Kansas Court in 1997 sentenced a women to four months in jail for killing a liter of unwanted kittens.
2. In 1998, a court in Wisconsin sentenced a man to 123 years in prison for killing 5 cats. Two weeks later a court sentenced a mother to 30 months in jail for killing her new born child. She threw it out of an upstairs window into a dumpster. It was living when thrown out and did of massive head in juries and exposure.
3. In 1986, the Washingtonian Magazine reports that Ingrid Newkirk, founder of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) said” there is no rational basis for saying that human beings have special rights”. “Six million Jews died in concentration camps but this year 6 millions boiled chickens will die.”
4. we derive shade from our parents’ and grandparents’ ethical standards, their perceptions of right and wrong, their sense of moral duty, and above all, their spiritual commitment. Their ideals determined the kind of civilization we inherited from them, and our generation’s ideals will likewise shape tomorrow’s culture for our kid
5. What kind of value system are we leaving behind for our children?
II. The Brokenness of the Family
A. In his 1971 book, British psychiatrist Dr. David Cooper (the Death of the Family) said it was time to do away with the family
B. Consequently, the proponents of anti-family social engineering are busily reeducating the young people who will soon be the main leaders of society and the parents of a generation that will probably be even more dysfunctional than the current one. The hotspot for retraining of our young people is the college campus.
III. The Job of the Church
A. What’s needed in our day. For the church to get on track to it’s calling.
1. Matt. 28:19-20
B. Reform is not what is needed redemption is what is needed.
C. According to one report single parent families are higher in the church than outside it.
D. What the church needs to do is to return to a push on biblical principals to be lived out in our lives.
1. Deut. 6:7- more on this verse later
2. Prov. 23:13-14-
3. Col. 3:21-
IV. Eph. 6:4-
A. God has charged parents to raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Our children are to be raise in such a way that no other individual has more influence over them than does their parents.
B. Children are taught to become what they become.
C. Deut 6:6-7- parenting is a full-time job. Your paying job is part time, parenting is full time.
1. Judges 2:7,10- this entire generation failed miserable. As a consequence that generation turned away from the Lord
a. Judges 2:11-13-
b. Judges 21:25- their environment influenced them more than their parents because their parents relinquished responsibility for this job.
Take inventory in your own hearts. Do you thirst for God as the deer pants after the water? Or is your own life sending your children a message of hypocrisy and spiritual indifference. Is your commitment to Christ what you would hope for your children?