At the risk of stating the obvious, we can’t teach our children about the LORD, without, well, teaching them. We’ve seen how our whole vision and philosophy of parenting is to capture and communicate the reality of what it means to walk with Him. But alongside that total culture of our family life, we must teach - constantly, consistently, consciously and conscientiously. Everything else in our family life should reinforce and lend credibility to what we teach, but nothing else we do can replace it.

Cotton Mather, a preacher of a preivous generation (1663-1728) wrote that: ‘Above all and before all, it is the knowledge of the Christian religion that parents must teach their children.  The knowledge of other things, though it may be ever so desirable and advantageous for them, our children may arrive at eternal happiness without, but the knowledge of godly doctrine and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ is of a million times more necessary for them’. 

In contemporary parlance: Who cares if they know how to make a million by the time they are 40, if they don’t walk with the Lord Jesus Christ.  There is no end of broken hearted parents who will tell you that their joy at their children’s career or educational, or sporting success is tragically tempered by the fact that those children aren’t walking with the Lord. We’ll come back to this in a future post.

The foundational text for us to reflect on is found in Deuteronomy Ch.6. We’ll focus on vv.6-9 & 20-25:

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on 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. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates…

In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?’ tell him: ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders – great and terrible – on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised on oath to our ancestors. The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.’

It’s a beautiful image in which the atmosphere of a home is saturated with a didactic culture, and a constant dialogue. The Lord has given these children into our care, on trust, and is careful to explain at this key moment in the history of the Church how He wants us to bring them up. The words are particulaly poignant when we realise the context in which they are spoken.

Textually, the immediate context is the laying out of the 10 Commandments (Dt.5); and perhaps even more importantly it comes directly after the ‘Greatest Commandment’ (Dt.6:4-5, Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength).

Historically, the Church is on the threshold of one of the most profound spiritual challenges they have yet to face, as they prepare to cross the Jordan into a spiritually desolate and dangerous land. They are about to step into an arena in which they will face the perennial temptation to leave the spiritual legacy of their parents. Other spirtiualities, others ways of living will be offered and pressed upon them. What then is the Lord’s strategy to ensure they will not lose their faith… to ensure the future strength of the Church? Parents are to impress the commands of the Lord on their children.

Actually, we missed a step. The first thing is for parents to walk with integrity before the Lord themselves. Those commands are to be on our own hearts first of all, and only then are we to impress them on our children. We cannot take our children where we are not prepared to walk ourselves. It is worth noting that the decisin we make here will affect three generations of our family (See Deut.6:2). I am being given the opportunity to forge a spiritaul legacy that will affect not only my children, but also any grandchildren.

It is not overstating the point to say that we are standing on the brink of the single most significant responsiblity a parent has to their children.  Indeed, when the Apostle Paul wants to reduce the essence of parenting to a single sentence, he does so by saying: ‘…do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord’ (Eph.6:4).

If you have children, parenting is among the most significant areas of mininstry you have. This is worth remembering in an age and a society that systemically undermines the role and value of parents and of parenting. And in the context of this most significant minsitry, the ‘impressing’ of the ways of the Lord on our children is the most significant aspect. If you have children, this is what you are called to. The Bible recognises no other kind of Christian parent than one who impresses the commands of God on their children. It is so liberating to be able to strip away so many of the other pressures and demands we feel we are under as parents to focus on this most critical of priorities that we are given by God. We stand on holy ground!

We’ll revisit this in future posts, but don’t forget that there is a series of articles on the practicalities of how to do this on the MIE website:

https://www.mie.org.uk/teaching-children

The articles are in reverse order, so the first in the series is at the bottom of the page!