Sermon notes

INTRODUCTION
Raising children is a way of throwing out a line to the future. It is inherently an act of faith, an effort to outlive ourselves. That’s true of all parenting. But Christian parents need to exercise the full range of theological virtues: faith, hope, and love (1 Corinthians 13:13). This wee we look at faith.

THE TEXT
“When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.’ . . . ” (Genesis 17:1-27).

ABRAM’S FAITH
Abram exercised faith long before he had children. Yahweh had appeared when Abram was seventy-five promising to make him a great nation (Genesis 12:1-4), but twenty years had passed and Abram had only his Ishmael, who was not the seed (Genesis 16). His body was dead, and Sarai’s womb was barren (cf. Romans 4:16-22), yet Abram continued to trust Yahweh to provide a son. Only after Abram received the symbolic castration of circumcision did he and Sarai produce the miracle-child Isaac (cf. Galatians 4:21-31). Most of us do not have such dramatic stories, but Abram’s story points to a universal truth: All children are miraculous gifts from God, to be received in believing thanksgiving.

WHOSE ARE OUR CHILDREN?
Yahweh is the God of our children (Genesis 17:7). They are embraced by His covenant with us (v. 9). Yahweh not only states this, and confirms it with an oath (Genesis 15; Hebrews 6:13). He also gives Abram (now Abraham) a sign to visibly mark His covenant people, including the children. In the new covenant, baptism is the sign that our children belong to God. He makes them His children, and promises to bless. We need to know that, and so do our children.

TOOLS OF CHILD-REARING
“The rod and reproof give wisdom,” says Proverbs 29:15. We train our children by verbal guidance and correction, and by physical discipline. We might be able to give a psychological defense for using these tools, but the main reason we use them is because we believe God’s word. Proverbs 22:15 says that the rod removes folly from the heart of a child; we use the rod because we believe that. Proverbs also promises that reproof will give wisdom (15:5, 32); we believe that, so we correct our children.

FAITH AND FEAR
Child-raising can be dominated by fear. We might fear that our kids will turn out badly, or fear the shame of having unruly kids, or fear that our kids might be corrupted by the world outside, so we pummel them to keep them in line or keep them in a safe zone. This won’t work. Fears like this are self-fulfilling. Jesus says, Fear not.

LEADING TO FAITH
Parents need to act in faith, and also need to lead our children to faith. We need to teach them. But we also need to correct and discipline them in a way that nurtures faith. Use correction to cultivate their trust in God.