Message Notes 06 25 23
June 23, 2023

Title: The Responsibility of Christian Parents
Text: Ephesians 6:4
Date: June 25, 2023

Introduction: As the subject of parenting is addressed, we should be reminded that all families are dysfunctional to some degree. There are few “normal” parents, if by “normal” we mean parents who do everything right. Most of us as parents would say that if we had to do it over again, there are some things we would change. Guilt and regrets almost always accompany the parenting role, because parenting is hard.

When we get the job as parents, we have had very little training. In addition, to exacerbate the problem, each new child is so different from the other that even if we did have training on how to raise one child, it would not help us that much as we raised another child. Parenting is a hard, hard, difficult road!
The following quotes are worth our consideration:

— If it was going to be easy, it never would have started with something called labor.
— Shouting to make your children obey is like using the horn to steer your car, and you get about the same results.
— The best way to keep kids at home is to have a loving atmosphere—and hide the car keys.
— Any child can tell you that the sole purpose of a middle name is so he can tell when he’s really in trouble.

Regardless of the difficulty as parents, we have an awesome responsibility as Christian parents to the little lives God places in our care. Their future is very much dependent upon the discipline and training they receive from us, which is exactly the truth we read about over and over in the book of Proverbs. “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (22:6) or “train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it (KJV). This is also the very lesson that Paul was speaking about in our text for today. At first, it seems that Paul directs what he is saying here primarily to fathers. If this were the case, this would be fine, because as we learned in a previous sermon, fathers are supposed to be the head of the household. However, it can also refer to both parents. It is used this way in Hebrews 11:23 which says, “By faith Moses parents hid him for three months after he was born.” That’s the same Greek word there. So, although our translation says “fathers” these instructions are for both mothers and fathers.

What is the responsibility of Christian parents?

I. We must not

our children.

II. We must

for our children.

Larry Gipson
First Baptist Church-Oneonta