The Duty of Children (Part 1 of 2)

The there are a lot of modern parenting is that assume that children are naturally good at the parents job is to protect them from negative influences, but that idea is not grounded in biblical truth and today on Truth for Life.

Alastair Begg describes God's direction for parents and children. It's part of our study called life together look. Chapter 2 and verse 39 and when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth and the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom and the favor of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year to the feast of the Passover and when he was 12 years old. He went up according to custom and when the feast was ended as they were returning the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey. Then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem searching for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers listening to them and asking them questions and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished at his mother said to him, son, why have you treated us so behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress, and he said to them, why were you looking for me. Did you not know that I must be in my father's house and they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them, and his mother treasured up all these things in her heart and Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man Ephesians and to chapter 6 children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

Honor your father and mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land or may live long on the air fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Amen. Well, last time we barely touched on the verses that we read we got as far as I think just simply say children which we made five comments concerning century remember them all very well that number one. They are a heritage from the Lord. Number two, they are on loan to us for a short time. Number three that they are flawed from conception number four that they like we are in need of the law of God number five that salvation comes by grace through faith to them and now as we come back to this passage we realize just how clear and unavoidable and helpful it actually is. Children obey your parents because in doing so you are honoring God. And this despite the fact that it is not regarded as being as something that people aspire to in our culture. MLS it is their stated as a duty as a duty and we do well to remind ourselves that the pen that writes these words is the pan of a one time Jewish boy brought up in fine hole under the tutelage force of his parents and then under the wisdom of his teachers. He then, in the context of his home understood what it was to love and to obey there in the context of his home. Like other children he would understand his own personal identity who he wasn't, where he fitted, and particularly as made in the image of God at one of the great benefits I think of that Orthodox Jewish context. Even to this day is that it establishes these facts as grounded in God the creator himself and it is for that reason that when you read in various pieces of literature. When you enjoy as I'm sure many of us do the work of those who have come from that kind of background you realize how these things are reinforced by I date myself by my references. I understand it should be pleased about that is nothing worse than somebody of my age trying to appear that I'm really hip and I'm up to date with everything and my children make sure that I'm not.

And so when I when I mentioned to you via it's only a certain group that immediately says hi. Here we go fiddler on the roof again and that's exactly right. When you have that wonderful piece tradition that comes at us with great forcefulness, and then stated, particularly in the stage plate comes across very effectively when to have you stop saying and addresses the audience in in the theater and he says to them, you may ask, how did this tradition get started. I'll tell you I don't know, but it's a tradition and because of our traditions. Every one of us knows who he is and what God expects him to do that is far more than that, than simply the traditional emphasis of a family background.

The fact that when a young person knows that he was intricately fashioned in the womb of his mother when he understands that his DNA was established by a creator God.

When she understands that her life is sustained by that same creator and that the entire universe is under the jurisdiction of the God who is purposefully made them. That is a vastly different view of the world and perspective on life than the alternatives that are prevalent in our culture in a more profound way. When Paul is exhorting Timothy in his last letter to Timothy and he says to me, and I want you to intimidate, to make sure that you continue in the things that you have learned and have become convinced of knowing those from whom you learned them, and how from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures are the sacred writings referencing the Old Testament which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

Now this is the Paul you see who is writing to the Ephesians and has come. Now having dealt with husbands and wives to this matter of children and their parents. There are number of things we can note and hopefully help for the sole first of all, that in this opening sentence here what we have is not a suggestion, it is an obligation.

It is an obligation.

The obedience of children to their parents is not a voluntary act.

It is both expected and it is demanded. Now remember that Paul is writing here to the believing community. He is not giving simply general principles about parenting or about marriage, or about employment. He is he is addressing those who are within the framework of God's covenant family and within the framework of gospel and of grace and so he is appealing then to them in light of what is true of them on account of God's grace to them and through them. So when we put that down.

We then realized that it changes things quite dramatically.

If it is as we are to see in verse four the duty of parents to raise their children to train their children to love and obey God.

It is equally the duty of children to obey and honor their parents now again since we started musicals. I give you one other musical the picture that we have in mind here about this needs to be a biblical picture.

The understanding of what it means to inculcate in our children a genuine response of obedience and of honor. The picture here must not be the captain in the in the sound of music you remember that the fellow there in the air with that uniform that he has on and how it one point in the proceedings.

He takes out a silver whistle and he blows it he blows a siren like summoning blasts and each of the children's process step to attention immediately responding to the signal stepping forward in a military fashion announcing his or her name and that immediately stepping back into line. Now that might appeal to you because you were brought up as a Marine or something that you think that's a way to handle your children. I'm telling you that it isn't and it is not the pattern and when we come to the parental responsibility will try and make sure that were able to reinforce that but let it suffice for now to acknowledge that a child is not a machine, and therefore it is not some kind of mechanistic external operation that is in view here in relationship to the responsibilities that falter them is not Phillips paraphrases just the first verse or so children, the right thing for you to do is to obey your parents as those whom the Lord has said over you, and I like the alligator that this of tenor, of that I find I find that quite helpful.

No. In the second half of this first verse of what we see as an obligation is then clarified by way of explanation explanation children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

It is right when I going to get involved in what is right, at least for the moment, but you realize even just a year is that statement is quite staggering in his implications. If you use that on a daily basis.

Anyway, several courses of right and then you probably spend the next hour of your life debating the nature of right and so on. But for now let us sit for this is right. How is it right in three ways.

Number one in in if you like the natural order of things in the natural order of things. The right thing for you to do is to obey your parents in the natural order of things and I'm not going to camp on this.

I'll send you this direction is for you to follow up when Paul writes to the church at Rome and he is establishing in the early part of the letter.

The fact that the whole world is accountable before God. He deals with the question of the fallen world. He deals with it in relationship to the particular privilege that his own people, the Jews had concerning the law of God, but he also deals with it in relationship to the Gentiles, whom he says did not have the law of God, but in the course of that in chapter 2, he points out that although they did not have the law of God by way of revelation. They had what he refers to essentially as natural law that fashioned in the image of God. There is a law. He says that is implanted within them that their own conscience testifies to so that the sense of if you like natural law which underpins at least in Western democracies.

The nature of the jurisprudence and civil law itself that says Paul is sufficient for people to be able to respond to an agitation like this and find their consciences inside of them. You know what that is actually right because if you read of tall in history. If you if you did anthropology at University or if you've fashion yourself as a sociologist you know from your reading that virtually all civilizations have regarded parental authority and its exercise as being of indispensable foundation as an indispensable foundation to a stable society, so that whether whether it is Confucius.

Whether it is Japan, whether it is sub-Saharan Africa, whether it is in Western democracy. If you read and think you will realize that man as man recognizes that when that link is broken between the child and the parent in terms of what is the natural order of things.

The stability of a culture begins to unravel and you don't have to be a genius immediately as you sit there listening to me to say what I would explain quite a lot about where we are right now in 21st century in America. An explanation that people do not want to have expressed because it calls us to account every one of us to the guard who has created us, who sustains us and to whom we are accountable, so it is then right.

According to the natural order of things.

Secondly, it is right in accordance with God's law that what Paul is doing here is is referencing the 10 Commandments and whether to what we have in the 10 Commandments is if you like a summary of the way life is meant to be live. A summary of the way life is meant to be lived. God has given to this wonderful summary and he says you know here here this this is how this thing works.

This is how this program works. I was thinking between services of I can remember a movie that is so long long time ago. I'm sure it quoted it before but by then there's a there's a moment in the movie. I think it Scherer that's in the movie. Having somebody else and she's having this great contretemps with with her daughter who's up posing her in every front end and she does such a job in our mother that eventually the mother bursts into tears and says you know you never came with her said of instructions and the fact is, she did come with a set of instructions, neither she nor you are prepared to pay attention to it is right according to God's law he's conflating. Exodus 20 Deuteronomy 5 putting these pieces together in such a way as to reinforce this fact he he is reminding them that in my contacts. When God speaks to his people through his servant Moses and gives to his people, his law, he does so in a way that is to establish them as a unique group in the context of a panorama of notions and ideas and concepts and lifestyles and he says through his servant, he says to Moses, tell my people. You shall be holy, even as I am holy. That's Leviticus chapter 90 now when you check, you will discover that the very next thing he says is every one of you shall revere his mother and father as number one what it would look like to be a holy child dressed in a certain way. No just obedient to your mom and dad that would be more than any other thing just in the same way as we said, what would it mean to be a godly evangelistic wife living in submission to answer and the house you see what is happening here is Paul moves to the end of his letter is he is he he's bringing home something that was there at the very beginning. He said back in. In chapter 1 that in the fullness of time, God has a plan to unite all things under Christ to unite all things in an under Christ as said about verse 10 of Ephesians 1, but is not an abstract concept. It was a story about their is that he is going to actually bring the United Nations together that he will bring together people from every tribe and language and so on so that all of the racial discrimination and the hate and all that stuff is dealt with by Jesus in the gospel he is going to bring together the warring factions within family life as parents do as they're told and his children to likewise easy. The question is how can a child love and obey a God whom he has not seen if they want love and obey their father and mother, whom they have see Paul is actually underscoring the fact that the child's obedience love, respect for his parents authority is in the awareness that the parents authority is divinely delegated. The child is not called to obey his parent because his parent is a genius, or because his parent has figured everything out for they are neither genius nor have they figured everything out, or because they are always on form and do everything correctly because they're not in the don't we don't. Paul is saying the reason that this is to take place within the Christian home is not because the parent is infallible but because God's word is infallible and that the parents within the framework of the Christian home is in the place of God in relationship to the children in their infancy. Therefore, the word of truth that is in the Scriptures which is to be the foundation of instruction is then held up in such a way that is not about anything other than the fact that God who loves us so much has given us a book showing us how everything works and since he loves you and wants the very best for you.

He's given you all of these are signs and wonders and stop signs and one way streets and everything and are all here in this book and I love you and I want you to know that I am responsible to help you with this and you are responsible to pay attention to what I'm telling you this, the Shema again is these words that I give you today. What words the very sacred writings of Scripture. These words that I give you today are to be upon your hearts and you will teach them to your children when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you get up high calling for parents and for children listening to Truth for Life and a message from Alastair Begg titled duty of children with the Bible has to say to us as parents certainly goes against the grain of popular thought in our day here Truth for Life. We believe God's word is relevant for all time were committed to bringing you clear relevant Bible teaching even if it is countercultural because we believe God will work through his word in the hearts of all who hear in the unusual times our world has faced these past months. We are especially grateful to be able to deliver these messages straight into homes all around the world.

That's all because of support that comes from listeners like you. If you been encouraged and strengthened by the teaching you hear on this program. Would you join the team that makes Truth for Life possible by becoming a monthly truth partner you set the amount for your monthly gift. Maybe it's what you set aside for a cup of coffee every day and your ongoing support makes an enormous impact providing stability even in the midst of the uncertainty of a global crisis. Sign up now online the Truth for Life.org/truth partner and when you do, be sure to request our recommended book. We have carefully selected this book to accompany our current series. The book is titled aspects of love and we will send it to you along with our thanks. We all need to love and to be loved. Unfortunately the world is full of love gone wrong, broken marriages, strained friendships and ever-increasing experiences of loneliness. So what are we missing how we build satisfying joy filled connections with others. This book dives into what the Bible has to say about relationships of all kinds, friendships, marriage and family. As you read, you will learn how to guard and keep your important relationships. According to God's design. Request a copy of aspects of love that Truth for Life.org/truth partner or call 88858878841 more time just in case you missed that number 888-588-7884 Bob Lapine be sure to join us Thursday. Alastair will continue his message on the biblical roles of parents and children. It is a countercultural message laying out God's design for healthy, thriving families. The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life learning is prolific