Deuteronomy 6:6-8 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Introduction: Today we are starting a new series regarding teaching our children, the idea comes from Deuteronomy 6:6-8, and although this passage is speaking to the nation of Israel specifically, there are some things that we can teach our own children diligently, every opportunity we get. God wants us as parents to be teaching our children diligently the things that are in this Bible. Every opportunity we get with our children, sitting, walking, lying, and rising, is a teaching opportunity. One of the things that us parents can improve on, is the teaching of Godly character to our children, this teaching will help our children in every area of life.
Teaching our children to Obey includes:
I. Showing them Christ’s Examples– Philippians 2:5-8 “became obedient unto death”. The Lord Jesus Christ made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a servant, was made in the likeness of men, all for the purpose of obeying the father, in becoming the savior of the world. Although God the father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all one, Jesus Christ obeyed the Father in this request, and the Son obeyed. In like manner, our children need to be taught obedience not only to God, but also their parents, and everyone in authority.
- When our children are little, they need to learn to obey their parents, their earthly father, so they get used to obeying the one who represents our heavenly father. This will allow them to obey God when they figure out that God is real.
- Obeyed His “earthly parents”– Luke 2:41-51 Jesus “was subject unto them”, his parents. He was under their dominion to obey in everything.
- It wasn’t His Will- Matthew 26:39 “nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt”
- Always pleased the Father- John 8:29 “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do ALWAYS those things that please him”.
- Kept His Father’s Commandments- John 15:10 “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love”.
II. Showing them Biblical Examples– When we teach our children the Bible, we teach them that everything in is true, it happened exactly as the Bible says, and we believe everything. Part of that, is seeing examples we find in the Bible about people who obeyed God in what ever God told them to do. The point here is not to see how big or small the “task” but, to show that they did obey.
- Noah -Genesis 6:13-14 God commands and instructs Noah what He wants Noah to do. In Genesis 6:22 “Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he”.
- Abraham -Genesis 12:1-4 God tells Abraham to “get thee out of thy county, and from thy kindred, and from thy fathers house”. God told him to leave everything that we may hold dear to us even today. Our country, our family, and our fathers house, yet Abraham obeyed God “So Abraham departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him” vs 4.
- Caleb and Joshua -Numbers 13:1-2, 17, 25, 28, 30-33. Numbers 32:11-12 “because they have not wholly followed me: Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenezite, and Joshua the son of Nun: for they have wholly followed the LORD”.
III. Showing them the Parental Examples– Aside from showing our children that Jesus Christ obeyed his Heavenly Father, and aside from showing them Biblical examples of real people, who obeyed God, we need to show our children our own examples. As parents, they need to see us exercising obedience.
- Obeying God- Ezra 7:23 “Whatsoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently done”. What a great thing to tell our children, God told me to do this, and I’m going to do it. Or we did this, because God told us to do it. Getting used to the voice of God and obeying it.
- Obeying Pastor- Hebrews 13:17 “obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you”.
- Obeying Civil Government-
- Higher Powers- Romans 13:1-4 They are given their power by God and they are ordained by God to do whet they need to do to keep order, law, justice, etc.
- Titus 3:1 “Put the in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work”. Being under the power and dominion of another.
- Mark 12:13-17 God obeyed those that were over him on this earth.
Conclusion: Teaching our children is something we should do all the time accord to Deuteronomy 6. We teach them by showing God’s example- God manifested in the flesh obeyed God the Father and wanted to do only those things that please Him, there is no better example than our God’s example. We teach them by showing them people in the Bible that obeyed, and received blessings from God, and even those that disobeyed God and were cursed, to show them that it pays to obey God. Lastly, we MUST show our children our own example, that’s the biggest example they have to follow and they will remember above all others.