Having Children for the Glory of God

The title of this post is reflective of a sermon by John Piper entitled Marriage Is Meant For Making Children- Disciples of Jesus. You can do to the below website and either read the manuscript or listen to this sermon.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByDate/2007/2188_Marriage_Is_Meant_for_Making_ChildrenDisciples_of_Jesus_Part_1/

Listening to this sermon, reading some good books and listening to other preaching on this topic, I felt the need to write a blog about it. Our modern culture gives us a variety of reasons for marriage. These range from sex, company, emotional stability, financial security to many other reasons. Has anyone ever stopped to think that marriage is meant for making children. God designed a man and a woman to cleave togather and become one flesh for the purpose of making children. To further this point, the reason we need to make children is to make disciples of Christ.

We live in a world today where parents have neglected their Bibilical responsibility to teach and raise their children. They rely on Sunday School, AWANA and churches to teach God's word to their children. It's not the churches mandate or responsibility to teach your children about the Bible. It is the churches responsisbility to partner with parents to reach their children. The church and its pastors can be tremendous resource in aiding and supplementing the parental goal.

NAMB has a statistic out that more than half of SBC Christians never share their faith with anyone. You know how we can turn that number around, teach our kids about the Gospel. Take the time to disciple them, and help them become followers of Christ. If parents would do this, that statistic would be blown out of the water. The average American has 1.9 children. (I've never seen half a boy Paw, poor Horatio--- Andy Griffith Show reference). If the average American reaches their 1.9 kids with the Gospel, then the statistic will be covered more than half. On a side note, isn't it sad that the 1.9 kids that we are having is not even enough to replace the current population. If 2 parents have 1.9 kids, they are not even reproducing themselves.

Parents need to heed the words of Deuternomy 6, where is says that "we are to diligently teach these things to our children and our children's children." I urge you, take your responsibilty as parents seriously, let's invest in the lives of our kids for the sake of the Gospel.

Shepherding a Child's Heart

Shepherding a Child's Heart is one of my favorite books of all time. It is written by Pastor Tedd Tripp, who pastors in Hazelton, PA. This past fall Shanna and I led the Shepherding a Child's Heart DVD discipleship class. I have read this book 7 times, and I learn something new everytime I read it.

Below is a book review by Tim Challies on Shepherding a Child's Heart. (Used by permission). Tim does a great job reviewing this book, so I'll let him tell you about it. I think this book is a must read for every Christian Parent who has a desire to raise their children biblically.

There are many things in life that are easy to do poorly but are much more difficult to do with excellence. It did not take me long as a parent to discover that it would not be difficult to raise children, but that it would be exceedingly difficult to do it with excellence. In the six years since my eldest child was born I have looked often for help and advice in becoming an excellent parent. Unfortunately my wife and I have received little mentorship in this area. Thankfully, there are many books written about this topic so we have often looked to these resources to provide the wisdom and training we know we need.

Shepherding A Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp came to us highly recommended. In fact, I can’t think of a book on this topic that was recommended to us more often. It is a book that deals with speaking to the very heart of your children. Realizing that too many parents react only to symptoms of underlying sin, Tripp attempts to help parents look deeper, to see that all the things a child says and does flow from the heart, for as Luke 6:45 says, “…out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” If a parent can understand a child’s heart and shepherd that heart, he can deal most effectively with a child’s deepest needs. And through it all he seeks to keep the gospel central to a parent’s calling and to a child’s response.

The book is divided into two parts. In the first, Tripp lays the foundation for biblical childrearing. He shows that the heart of bad behavior is a sinful heart. He discusses a child’s development, showing that a child is shaped by various influences on his life and that a parent needs to help a child have a Godward orientation. He discusses authority and suggests that, despite our culture’s disgust towards authority, a parent must assert himself as being in a position of God-given authority over a child. A child must realize that parents speak not of their own authority, but of God’s. He also discusses goals, methods, communication and discipline.

Where the first part of the book lays a foundation, the second part guides a parent through shepherding a child through three stages of development: infancy, childhood and teenagers. For each of these periods he suggests the training objectives and then procedures a parent should use to attain these objectives.

A section I found particularly interesting, perhaps because I have young children, was the section dealing with punishment. Tripp advocates spanking as really the only biblical method of punishment (and certainly the only one that is specifically mandated by Scripture) for correcting young children. He lays out very clear circumstances in which children should be spanked and suggests many circumstances in which parents must not spank. He makes this type of corporal punishment very deliberate and very loving. He suggests that parents must be fully in control of themselves when they spank and must not be filled with anger. Parents do not punish their children out of anger, embarrassment or retribution, but to teach children that defying authority will bring about consequences. Children must know that God demands obedience to authority and that there are consequences for defiance.

In his endorsement of this book Edward Welch wrote, “Dr. Tripp’s material on parenting is clearest, most biblically framed, and most helpful that I have ever encountered. It has become the backbone of my own parenting.” I agree entirely. Throughout the book Tripp focuses on Scripture and on the gospel. He focuses on human nature and on the grace of God in providing a solution to the needs of our children. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to any parent, and especially to new parents. Read it now, pray about it, and let God direct you to His ways of shepherding the hearts of your children.

Tim Challies lives just outside of Toronto (Ontario, Canada). He has a degree in history, for the past six years has been working with computers. Several years ago he began a web design company and that is how he currently earn a living. His real passion, though, is theology and the practical application of God's truths to the lives of believers. For the past few years he has been blogging at his web site Challies Dot Com where he post daily reflections, regular book reviews and whatever else seems interesting to him. He an avid reader and try to read at least one hundred books each year. It's an expensive habit. For more reviews of other books check out www.discerningreader.com