Join us this week as we talk about raising kids. Through a study of the Apostle Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 10, and Moses' instructions in Deuteronomy 6, we'll discover God's timeless solution to this problem: God's people must teach children to be God's people. Learn practical ways our church is seeking to obey this command. Don't miss this opportunity to understand your vital role in raising up a generation that follows Jesus with character, love, and godliness.
GOD'S WORK –God Works Through Next Generations
Main Texts: Deuteronomy 6; Genesis 1, 17, 18; Judges 2; Various OT Passages; Mark 10:13–16
Introduction - How God works in both immediate and long-term needs.
God’s Multi-Generational Vision
(How did they do?) Lessons from Old Testament History
New Testament Fulfillment
BBCC Verse of the Week: Deuteronomy 6:5–7 (NIV) 5 Love the LORD your God… [teach that to] your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
I am afraid that parenting confusion and dysfunction often begin with parents having an ownership view of parenting… It operates on this perspective of parenting: “These children belong to me, so I can parent them in the way I see fit.” In the press of overwhelming responsibilities and a frenetic schedule, we lose sight of what parenting is really about. We look at our children as belonging to us, and we end up doing things that are short-sighted, not helpful in the long-run, more reactive than goal-oriented, and outside of God’s great, big, wise plan. Ownership parenting is not overtly selfish, abusive, or destructive; it involves a subtle shift in thinking and motivation that puts us on a trajectory that leads our parenting far away from God’s design. This shift is subtle because it takes place in little, mundane moments of family life— moments that seem so small and insignificant that the people in the middle of them are unaware of the movement that has taken place. But the shifts are significant precisely because they do take place in insignificant little moments, because those little moments are the addresses where our parenting lives. It’s the repeated cycle of little unplanned moments that is the soul-shaping workroom of parenting. Ownership parenting is motivated and shaped by what parents want for their children and from their children. It is driven by a vision of what we want our children to be and what we want our children to give us in return. Good parenting, which does what God intends it to do, begins with this radical and humbling recognition that our children don’t actually belong to us. Rather, every child in every home, everywhere on the globe, belongs to the One who created him or her. Children are God’s possession (see Ps. 127: 3) for his purpose. That means that his plan for parents is that we would be his agents in the lives of these ones that have been formed into his image and entrusted to our care. The word that the Bible uses for this intermediary position is ambassador. The only thing an ambassador does, if he’s interested in keeping his job, is to faithfully represent the message, methods, and character of the leader who has sent him... Every parent everywhere is called to recognize that they have been put on earth at a particular time and in a particular location to do one thing in the lives of their children. Parenting is not first about what we want for our children or from our children, but about what God in grace has planned to do through us in our children. To lose sight of this is to end up with a relationship with our children that at the foundational level is neither Christian nor true parenting because it has become more about our will and our way than about the will and way of our Sovereign Savior King. Paul David Tripp
From Judges to the exile, we see that when God’s people neglect the nurture of children, the breakdown extends beyond the family to the broader society or nation. Likewise, the church’s spiritual vitality depends greatly on faithful transmission of the gospel within families. A biblical theology of taking care of the next generation consistently affirms both the delight and the duty of passing on covenant faith. Stories of faithful individuals—like Eli, Samuel, David, and Hezekiah—who nonetheless failed to instruct their children reveal that personal devotion alone does not guarantee multi-generational faithfulness. Each generation must actively and comprehensively impart the knowledge and love of God to the next.
Redemptive history is always moving forward in Christ. God’s people are called to steward and nurture their covenant children so they, too, might share in God’s redemption story. This sacred calling is indispensable for the spiritual health of the church and for the ongoing mission of the gospel “to you and your children and for all who are far off” (Acts 2:39).
Pastor Samuel Sutter // sam@BBCCOnline.org
