PT-1 "The Submission of Employees" (Eph. 6:5-8)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/14/2019 11:51 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  “The Submission of Employees”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:5-8

 

            Message of the verses:   “5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6 not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.”

 

            The word “slaves” comes from the Greek word doulot, and according to John MacArthur this word indicates subjection and usually bondage.  In the times when the New Testament was written, and even before slavery was very common and slaves had no legal rights and were actually treated as commercial commodities.  During the Roman times the citizens looked upon work as degrading and so many had slaves to do their work for them, and many of the slaves were treated very harshly and could be killed at the whims of their owners.

 

            I want to quote two paragraphs from MacArthur’s commentary which I believe is important to read:  “Although Scripture does not speak against slavery as such, it clearly speaks against kidnapping of anyone for the purpose of making him or her a slave (Ex. 21:16).”  “"He who kidnaps a man, whether he sells him or he is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death.”  “The European and American slave trade that lasted past the middle of the nineteenth century was therefore a clear violation of Scripture, despite the rationalizations of many Christians who were involved in it.

 

            “Certain types of nonabusive and beneficial slavery were permitted, or even advocated, in the Old Testament.  For example, a thief who could not make restitution could be indentured until repayment was worked out—a plan far superior to the modern prison sentence which provides for no restitution of property or money to the victim or restoration of dignity for the thief.  Israelites were allowed to buy slaves from the pagan nations around them (Lev. 25:44), but fellow Israelites could not be bought or sold, although they could voluntarily indenture themselves until the year of jubilee (vv. 39-40).  During their time of service they were to be treated as hired workers, not as slaves (v. 40-41, 46).  Even pagan slaves were not to be abused and were given their freedom if seriously injured by their master (Ex. 21:26-27).  A slave who fled from an oppressive master was to be given asylum and protection (Deut. 23:15-16).  A fellow Israelite could not be used as a slave for more than six years, at the end of which he was to be given liberal provisions as a form of severance pay (Ex. 21:2; Deut. 15:13-14).  Every fiftieth year, the year of jubilee, all slaves were to be freed and returned to their families (Lev. 25:10).  A slave who loved his master and preferred to remain with him could voluntarily indenture himself for life by having his ear pierced by his master (Ex. 21:5-6).  The kind of slavery controlled by scriptural teaching was a blessing to both employer and employee and was a rewarding and fulfilling relation between them.”

 

            I think as one reads these two paragraphs and also what we will learn in the remaining SD on this topic that slavery according to the Biblical terms of it was fair and just, which is just as one should believe it should be.  I think that it is interesting that when Jesus Christ came to earth, according to Philippians chapter two that He was actually a slave, however most English translations choose to use the Greek word “doulos”  as “bond-slave” but the word does mean slave:  “5  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6  who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7  but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:5-7).  Jesus willingly made Himself a slave which means that He could become a man in order to fulfill His Father’s will that He would die on the cross to pay for my sins and all those who will accept His forgiveness.

 

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action:”

 

“Let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one

another, studying how we may stir and stimulate and incite

to love and helpful deeds and noble activities.”

Hebrews 10:22 Amplified

 

9/14/2019 12:26 PM

 

Intro to Eph. 6:5-9

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/13/2019 9:40 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  Intro to Eph. 6:5-9

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Eph. 6:5-9

 

            Message of the verses:  “5 Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; 6 not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. 7 With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free. 9 And masters, do the same things to them, and give up threatening, knowing that both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him.”

 

            We have been talking about submission for a considerable length of time, and this section here will finish the discussion of submission.  When we go back to Ephesians 5:18 we learn that at the end of that verse it teaches us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to have the Holy Spirit fill us so that we are able to submit to those that is spoken of in this section, and I mentioned earlier that it is my belief that Ephesians 6:1-9 should have been included in the fifth chapter because the subject is the same.  Be that as it may we still can read through this last section on submission and learn from it.  Again the key in doing this is to be filled with the Spirit.

 

            John MacArthur entitles this chapter “Spirit-Filled Labor Relations,” picking up on the theme of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

            After I graduated from High School in 1965 I went to work for the Ford Motor Company as a laborer and was in the United Auto Workers union once I had my 90 days of work at the company.  In 1979 I became a supervisor at Ford and remained in that capacity for most of my remaining time at Ford, only had a few months of going back to my job as a union worker for a few months because of a cut back.  I worked a total of 34 years at Ford, and then after my retirement from Ford I did not back in a part-time basic as a consultant pretty much doing the same job as before.  My point in telling this brief story of my employment is to say that I understand from both sides of labor and management what happens in the work force in today’s climate.  I had been through a couple of strikes, one very long, while working at Ford, and pretty much saw that the Union became too strong which did put some companies out of work because they could not pay the wages demanded by the companies they worked for.  The key to the problem is balance as each side is not to take advantage of the other side or things get out of balance and then both sides can lose everything.  This section talks about slaves and masters and so it is a bit different than the work environment that I was in, and yet there are similar things involved too.  Suppose in Paul’s day that both a master and a slave become believers, and suppose that the slave becomes a leader in the church that he and the master go to.  This could potentially make things difficult as in the church the master would be submissive to his own slave, yet at home the slave would be submissive to his master.  Same could be true in work places of union workers and supervisors in our day.  So the only way that any of this would work if all were filled with the Holy Spirit in order to follow what God has in His Word.

 

            John MacArthur writes towards the end of his introductory comments of this chapter the following:  “Paul’s instructions to masters and slaves continue in the setting of the household.  The vast majority of businesses in New Testament times were family operated, and therefore most servants were part of an extended household.  In agrarian situations the servants, or slaves, worked in the fields or tended the flocks.  If the master had a shop the servants worked as craftsmen or helpers.  If he was a merchant they would do whatever chores were required to help in the business.  In any case, the head of the household was also head of the business.  He was usually the employer and the servants were his employees.

 

            “In this passage Paul continues to deal with the practical effects of the Spirit-filled life (5:18), without which none of God’s righteous standards can be met, including those which regulate working relationships.  Verses 5-8 teach about the submission of slaves, or workers, and 9 teaches about the submission of masters, or employers.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Realize that the filling of the Holy Spirit is key to all relationships.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Humility is also a key to relationships.

 

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action:”  “If the church of Jesus Christ is not a place where we can be who we are, where can we go?  If the church is not a place where we can be encouraged and motivated throughout the process of our growth and maturing in the Lord, then where can we go to find some encouragement?  If we are not known for our love for each other in the fellowship of the church, then what does that say about our status with God?”

 

9/13/2019 10:11 AM

 

 

 

 

           

"The Positive Command" (Eph. 6:4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/12/2019 9:33 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                       Focus:  “The Positive Command”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:4

 

            Message of the verse:  “4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

 

            Before we begin this SD I want to remind you that we are looking at the main section of Ephesians 6:4 which we said was entitled “The Submission of Parents” which comes from John MacArthur’s commentary and we also stated that there are two sub-sections under this main section, and we looked at two days on the first part of verse four which was “The Negative Command” and now we will look at “The Positive Command,” which is found in the last part of verse four:  “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” 

 

            Let’s look at the Greek word for “discipline” “Paideia” and MacArthur writes that this word “comes from the word pais (child) and refers to the systematic training of children.  It includes the idea of correction for wrongdoing, as seen in the well-known proverb, ‘He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently’ (Prov. 13:24).  In the several uses of the term in Hebrews 12:5-11, the translators of the Authorized Version rendered it ‘chastening,’ which is clearly the emphasis of that context.  Paul’s meaning here is expressed even more fully, however, in the proverb ‘Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it’ (22:6).  ‘Discipline’ has to do with the overall training of children, including punishment.”

 

            Some of you may remember the mother of John and Charles Wesley as stories of her have been written.  I have read that because she had 17 children that there were times when she wanted to be left along and she would pull her apron over her head and so her children would know that mom had had enough and wanted some time by herself.  She said the following about raising children: “The parent who studies to subdue [self-will] in his child works together with God in renewing and saving a soul.  The parent who indulges it does the devil’s work, makes religion impracticable, salvation unattainable, and does all that in him lies to damn his child, soul and body forever” (cited from “The Journal of John Wesley,” Chicago:  Moody.”

 

            Next we look at the word for “instruction” in the Greek and look again to MacArthur to help us understand this word:  “Nouthesia (‘instruction’) is literally a ‘putting in mind’ and also includes the connotation of correction.  It refers to the type of instruction found in the book of Proverbs, where the primary focus is on the training and teaching of children.  It does not have as much to do with factual information as with right attitudes and principles of behavior.”

 

            He goes on to write “The key to right ‘discipline and instruction’ of children is the being ‘ of the Lord.’  Everything parents do for their children is to be on Him—according to the teaching of His Word, by the guidance and power of His Holy Spirit, in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to His own glory and honor.”

 

            This is the end of our section about children and parents, and as mentioned and also seen in the quote above the power of the Holy Spirit is what is most needed in the family as far as relationships between husbands and wives, and now the children. 

 

            I asked my wife yesterday what she thought the greatest thing that is lacking in the church today to which she talked about we should all be giving out the gospel more, and I agree with that answer but it was not really what I was looking for.  I mentioned that from his commentary on Ruth and Ester that Warren Wiersbe stated that if the Holy Spirit were taken out of the church today that there would not be a whole lot of difference in the church today, so with that thought I believe that the greatest thing that the church needs today is to have its people be filled with the Holy Spirit so that the church would be what the Lord wants it to be.  If the family is strong then the church is strong and if the church is strong then the nation is strong, and for this to be done we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit for this to happen.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I think that I said what I wanted to say in the paragraph above.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Have a short list with the Lord so that I can be filled with the Spirit so that as I continue to think of humility then I can be humble.

 

Today’s Quotation from “Love in Action” a book about encouragement:

 

“By this all will know that you are My disciples,

if you have love for one another.

John 13:35”

 

9/12/2019 10:03 AM

PT-2 "The Negative Command" (Eph. 6:4)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/11/2019 3:42 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-2 “The Negative Command”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:4

 

            Message of the verses:  “4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”

 

            We are looking at the first part of verse four as this section is the sub-section of the main section entitled “The Submission of Parents.” 

 

            Some children will see that the things that parents are doing in order to protect their children actually seem like that they are provoking their children to anger, but that is not usually the case.  Children go through different phases in their growing up years and in normal Christian families the children will learn to love and depend on their parents for a period of time, usually up until the time when they become teen agers and then they get that first idea of going out on their own and doing things that they want to do, which is probably not what their parents want them to do.  I have read that raising children is kind of like living on a farm with a corral which would be fenced in.  At first the children are not allowed in the corral, but when they get older they are allowed to go into it as they are for a time when they are in their unsupervised.  This could be like a privilege for them to go there and if they do not do things that are wrong they will receive more times there.  There will come a time when the parents will let them out of the corral such as when they get a driver’s license and you let your children out on the road the first time by themselves, usually after hours of driving with the parents along.  I remember the first time that I let my daughter drive our care alone, well her brother actually went along, and it seemed like at least an hour that they were gone, but it was probably only 20-30 minutes.  After a while this how they both got to school each day and the drama was not as great as the first time. 

 

            Smothering and favoritism are ways to provoke your children to anger, and I have to say that a father can usually favor a daughter over a son just because she is daddy’s little girl.   I told my grandson one day when he was in trouble for provoking his younger sister that he had better get use to her always being right and he being wrong because he was the older brother.  Unfortunately this kind of thing is usually true.  If a parent or parents push achievement beyond a reasonable bound, such as a parent wanting a child to fulfill their dreams, then this can provoke a child to anger. 

 

            The opposite is also true and that will bring about discouragement and this happens when a parent makes it seem as if the child can never do anything right.

 

            Fifth way is provocation will occur by parents if they fail to sacrifice for their children, making them feel unwanted.  Sometimes a child will feel like they are just not wanted in their lives and this is the way the parents make them feel and they can become resentful.

 

            Sixth way of provocation comes from failing to let children grow up at a normal pace.  All children do not grow physically, mentally, or spiritually at the same pace and this can cause problems if the parents want all the children to be “normal.”

 

            Seventh way states John MacArthur:  “is that angering children is that of using love as a tool of reward or punishment—granting it when a child is good and withdrawing it when he is bad.  Often the practice is unconscious, but a child can sense if a parent cares for him less when he is disobedient than when he behaves.  That is not how God loves and is not the way he intends human parents to love.  God disciplines His children just as much out of love as He blesses them.  ‘Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines” (Heb. 12:6).  Because it is so easy to punish out of anger and resentment, parents would take special care to let their children know they love them when discipline is given.”

 

            The eight way to provoke children is by physical and verbal abuse.  This is probably the most difficult thing to get over once it has happened to a child or teenager.  What I have to say to people who have gone through one or more of these eight things we have discussed is to ask the Lord to help you to forgive your parents, for no parent is perfect, and if one holds a grudge it is harder on that person than the one that they hold the grudge against.  Just think that if you have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as you Savior and Lord that you have been forgiven of every sin you have committed, or will commit which will make it easier once you think about that to forgive your parents for the mistakes that they have made in raising you.  Forgiving someone and being forgiven by someone is a truly beautiful thing to happen.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Remember that God has forgiven me of everything and so I am to forgive others just as He has forgiven me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To be continually filled with the Holy Spirit so that I can live the life that God wants me to live, and that includes humility and forgiveness of others.

 

Quotation from “Love in Action:” In a cold world that refuses to recognize a loving God, words such as the psalmist’s might to be expected.  But why do we hear these cries so often among believes?  Is it possible that we have so focused our attention on those outside the church that we have neglected our responsibility to each other?  God has given to us, His children, the solution to the lonely, hopeless heart.  In His Body, the church, no one should be passed over.  We are commanded to encourage one another.”  (You will have to read Psalm 142:4 from yesterday’s SD in order for this to make sense.

 

9/11/2019 4:36 PM

PT-1 "The Negative Command" (Eph. 6:4a)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/10/2019 9:24 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-1 “The Submission of Parents”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:4

 

            Message of the verse:  “And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”

 

            John MacArthur begins this second main section with a sub-section in which he entitles it “The Negative Command.” 

 

            We can see that Paul begins this verse with a negative command “father, do not provoke you children to anger.”  John MacArthur comments that this is a totally new concept for Paul’s day, especially in such pagan strongholds which is speaking of Ephesus.  During this time period in the Roman Empire the Father could do about anything he wanted to do to his family, including his wife and children.  He could do anything from selling them as slaves to having them killed, just because he wanted to.  John MacArthur writes “A newborn child was placed at its father’s feet to determine its fate.  If the father picked it up, the child was allowed to stay in the home; if the father walked away, it was simply disposed of—much as aborted babies are in our own day.  Discarded infants who were healthy and vigorous were collected  and taken each night to the town forum, where they would be picked up and raised to be slaves or prostitutes.

 

            Let us talk about the word for fathers used here in verse four:  “Though pateres (‘fathers’) usually referred to male parents, it was sometimes used of parents in general.  Paul has been speaking about both parents in the preceding three verses, and it seems likely that he still has both in mind in this term in verse 4.  The same word is used in Hebrews 11:23 to refer to Moses’ parents.”

 

            When we look at the words “ do not provoke your children to wrath” this probably means that both parents had the ability to do this although the father in that day was the dominant figure in the household.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Harvard University sociologists Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck developed a test (that proved to be 90% accurate) to determine whether or not five-and six-year olds would become delinquent.  They discovered that four primary factors necessary to prevent delinquency are:  the father’s firm, fair, and consistent discipline; the mothers supervision and companionship during the day; the parents demonstrated affection for each other and for the children; and the family’s spend time together in activities where all participated.” 

 

            I have left out a couple of paragraphs that I did not comment on from MacArthur’s commentary simply because they are very hard to read, but the very sad part of this is that when I look at the things that are happening in our country today I see some similar things that are going on, and the thing that in my mind are the cause of these problems is something that I have mentioned many times in these SD’s.  Of course the basic problem is sin as all have sinned and come short of the glory of God as seen in the book of Romans as Paul was building his case about this fact in the first three chapters of that book.  Evolution is, in my opinion, one of the things that has caused many of our problems in this country today.  If you think about the story of the child at the father’s feet determining whether or not the child will live or not and then think about evolution where we all came from an accident and are heading nowhere then one can understand why children are treated in the womb in our world today why they are.  If a couple wants a girl and finds out they are having a boy, then they just get rid of the baby before it is born. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Teach children the word of God when they are young so that they can understand their need for the Savior and therefore trust Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord so that as they grow up and continue to learn from the truths of Scripture that when they grow up and are married they can do the same for their children.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Continue to live my life so that the Holy Spirit will fill me so that I can continue to learn more of humility.

 

Quotation from “Love in Action:”

 

“Look on my right hand and see,

For there is no one who acknowledges me;

Refuge has failed me; No one cares for my soul.

Psalm 142:2-4.”

 

9/10/2019 10:02 AM

PT-5 "The Submission of Children" (Eph. 6:1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/9/2019 10:25 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-5 “The Submission of Children”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:1-3

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: 3 "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth’” (NKJV).

 

            I mentioned in our last SD about children growing intellectually, physically, spiritually, and socially, and asked that you look up things to help you understand each of these ways that a child can grow, but in today’s SD I want to talk about the spiritual growth of the child as we begin.

 

            John MacArthur writes “And every child must grow spiritually, ‘in favor with God.’  Children do not know God naturally, much less love and obey Him naturally.  A child must be taught about God, His nature, His care, His love, and His will.  And when he is old enough he must be taught His need to trust in Jesus Christ as His own Savior and Lord.

 

            “Paul said, ‘When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child’ (1 Cor. 13:11).  Children have deficiencies in every area of their lives, and it is the parents’ responsibility to meet those needs for growth—including the need to develop in the truths of the Lord.”

 

            Now as we look at the command “honor your father and mother” we can see that it is two-fold.  “That it may be well with you” relates to the quality of life, and that you may “live long on the earth” relates to the quantity of life promised.  Now as I write this I am reminded of the Spiritual Diaries that come from the book of Proverbs, which I am not posting on the other blog, and it seems that the two go together, this SD from Ephesians and that one from Proverbs.  Both are speaking of children at this point and both speak of long life if one obeys the Lord. However I have been taught by both Dr. Wiersbe, and John MacArthur that this long life has to do with the quality of life, for we know that many believers do not live long lives, but have lived a great quality of life.  I don’t think that a person who is a believer and continues to walk away from the Lord will actually live a long life, and an example of this comes from the fifth chapter of the book of Acts where we see that Ananias and Sapphira both died at a young age because of lying to the Holy Spirit.  In the 11^th chapter of 1 Corinthians we also see examples of believers dying early because they were actually getting drunk at the Communion Table.  Let me quote from the SD that I posted earlier on my other blog:  “In verses Pr. 4:14-17 we see that we are not to shuttle back and forth from the path of wisdom to the path of the wicked, we are to stay on the path of the wise so that God will direct your path, again like Proverbs 3:5-6 states.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “God doesn’t guide His children when they’re walking in darkness.  When you’re living in the will of God, the path gets brighter and brighter not darker and darker (1John 1:5-10).”  “5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6  If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7  but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.   8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.”

 

            As we finish this section and this SD I will once again quote from John MacArthur’s commentary:  “IF parents, who are much older and more experienced, cannot fulfill their responsibilities without being saved and being filled with the Holy Spirit, how much less can children be expected to fulfill their responsibilities without those spiritual requirements?  The children Paul addresses in Ephesians 6:1 are just as much commanded to ‘be filled with the Spirit’ (5:18) and to ‘be subject to one another in the fear of Christ’ (5:21) as are the husbands and wives of 5:22-33 and the parents of 6:4.

 

            “Samuel’s close relationship to the Lord started when he was very young, and King Josiah instigated spiritual revival in Judah when he was a teenager.  David was a boy when the Lord first started using him, and Queen Ester was a young woman when the Lord used her to save her people from annihilation.  John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit from his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15).”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful to the Lord that He is teaching me again the very great importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I desire to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that I continue to learn humility.

 

Today’s quotation from “Love in Action:  “In the New Testament, each member of the triune God (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit) places a priority on encouragement.  Here Paul used the word paraklesis (encouragement).”  Remember that you have to look at yesterday’s SD to see the  verses that were posted for this section to make sense.

 

9/9/2019 10:57 AM

 

PT-4 "The Submission of Children" (Eph. 6:1-3)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/8/2019 8:29 PM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  PT-4 “The Submission of Children”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 6:1-3

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: 3 “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth’” (NKJV).

 

            We continue to talk about children and their parents in this SD, noting that a child can have no greater inheritance than the godly teaching and the examples of his parents as we see in Proverbs 7:1-3:  “1 My son, keep my words And treasure my commandments within you. 2 Keep my commandments and live, And my teaching as the apple of your eye. 3 Bind them on your fingers; Write them on the tablet of your heart.”  Now remember that Solomon was writing these proverbs to his son in order for his son to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord. 

 

            A child who is obedient to his or her parents is a joy to raise and live with, but according to Proverbs 10:1 a disobedient child bring the opposite “A wise son makes a father glad, But a foolish son is a grief to his mother.”  Let us look at some more verses from Proverbs “He who sires a fool does so to his sorrow, And the father of a fool has no joy” (Pr. 17:21).  “A foolish son is destruction to his father, And the contentions of a wife are a constant dripping” (Pr. 19:13).  Looks like this man has double trouble. 

 

            John MacArthur writes “The world today has much to say about children’s so-called rights.  But the emphasis should be on their responsibilities.  Emphasis on rights—whether by children or adults—weakens and destroys relationships on every level.  It is the sense of responsibility that builds right relationships as well as right character.

 

            If we look at the second chapter of Luke we will see that even Jesus had to grow in the ways every child grows.  “51 And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:51-52).  Jesus grew intellectually, physically, spiritually, and socially.

 

            Children today must grow in all of these ways so that they will live a life that is pleasing to the Lord.  Jesus was the perfect example for all of us, even when He was a child. 

 

            Now because today is Sunday, this SD will be shorter than most of the ones done during the week, but I will add that if you take a look at the words that are highlighted above you can see that one can look at them and figure out how children are to grow in each of those categories.  It is up to the parents to teach the children these ways.  One of the ways that I found that worked for our family when our children were home was to make sure that the things that I taught them at home went along with the things that they were learning in Sunday school, church, and also in their school, and that is why I sent my children to a Christian school, and then to a Christian college. 

Today’s very short quotation from “Love in Action” is as follows:

 

Blessed be the God,…the Father of mercies [encouragement].

II Corinthians 1:3.

 

9/8/2019 9:46 PM