Teaching Our Children to Love the Bible
Text Box: Teaching Our Children to Love the Bible
Text Box: By 
Dr. Nathan Leasure
Pastor, Rock Chapel Church of God
Granite Falls, NC

 

As a father of two young girls, I am acutely aware that my children will be raised in a culture that is radically opposed to purity, integrity, and seemingly at times, common sense. They will be sent to schools where the pressure to conform to secular culture is palpable. I must admit that there are days when the task seems insurmountable. Yet, as a Christian father I take comfort in Paul’s second letter to Timothy who was ministering in the metropolis of Ephesus.

 
Ruled by the Greeks and later the Romans, Ephesus came under the moral influence of those great cultures gone awry. The city was famous for its cultic worship of the fertility goddess Artemis and her temple prostitutes numbered in the thousands. What is more, the Greeks were notorious for their homosexuality and the Romans gleefully followed in their footsteps. Homosexuality was the norm among the emperors as Edward Gibbon famously noted, “of the first fifteen emperors, Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct.” The implication is that for nearly 200 years, the world was ruled, with a single exception, by men who practiced homosexuality. In addition to sexual perversions, the Roman Empire was rampant with infanticide, abortion, racism, slavery, and death sports provided for entertainment. Ephesus was part of that empire and simply put, it was no place to raise a family of faith.


Yet Paul expresses confidence in Timothy’s ability to minister and grow in Ephesus. In 2 Tim. 3:13-14, he amazingly writes:
“But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Essentially Paul says, “Timothy, I have confidence that even as things get worse in Ephesus, you’ll continue to prosper spiritually, in large part, because you were taught the scriptures from the beginning of your childhood.” Obviously, Timothy would need to walk in the truths he had been taught; yet this was made possible because his mother and grandmother (I Tim. 1:5) had invested the necessary time to teach him scripture.

 
The challenge for Christian parents today is to follow this lead by teaching our children the scriptures which is capable to make them
wise for salvation in our troubling time. Yet how might we accomplish this goal?

 

One facet of our goal surely must be to familiarize our children with scripture. This means that our children, through constant exposure to scripture begin to develop a sense of what behaviors and beliefs are contrary to the biblical worldview and which are consistent with gospel truth. Several years ago Dr. Gilbert Stafford lovingly reflected on his father during one of his sermons. Reminiscing he said, “As I reflected on his life I came to some conclusions. He had this uncanny ability to know what was harmonious with the gospel and what was contrary to the gospel and he was willing to take stands, very, very unpopular stands because whatever it was didn’t ring clear to the gospel.” Stafford recalled some of the stands his father had taken against racism and then asked where his father’s commitment to racial equality originated. Attempting to answer the question, Stafford reflected, “He grew up in a very segregationist town where the Ku Klux Klan used to come in and sort of check everything out in the services so he didn’t get it there. And he never went to college so he didn’t get it there. And he didn’t move to some area that had all these views that were like his views, so he didn’t get it there. Where did he get it? The only answer I can come up with is that he had read the gospel carefully and this was contrary to the gospel. He was walking according to another drumbeat.”



A second facet of our goal must be the
reflection upon scripture with our children. Parents find it increasingly difficult to keep their children from colliding with the baser elements of our secular culture. A few years ago my wife worked in a daycare located in rural North Carolina and was appalled at the vulgarity she heard from many of her pre-school kids. These children, not yet in kindergarten, were well versed in four letter words and sexual innuendo. Shielding our children from the darkness engulfing us may not be possible. What then can be done? Our recourse is to use those negative experiences as teaching opportunities by using scripture to show the darkness of those behaviors, the consequences for those who continue in those behaviors, and the “more excellent way” (1 Cor. 12:31) found in scripture.

 
A third facet of our goal should doubtless be the
memorization of scripture. In what is perhaps the most important instruction to parents in the Old Testament, God commanded the Israelites to zealously teach His words to their children. The Lord said, “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up . . .” (Deut. 6:6-9). We were delighted when our daughter Ava was able to recite the Disciple’s Prayer in a worship service when she was three years old. Our intent in teaching her this prayer is based on hope. We prayerfully anticipate that she will come to identify with the psalmist who declared, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Ps. 119:105) Yet we are also aware that she may not always follow the right path and may someday find herself in a very dark place. Should this unfortunately happen, our prayer is that these divine words will be remembered and draw her back to Father’s house.

 
A final facet of our goal must be to nurture an
appreciation of scripture in our children. It is possible to know the scriptures well and yet not have an appreciation for its divine origins, unique worldview, or gospel Truth. It is possible to be familiar with scripture yet miss the beauty of it all. For these individuals the Bible becomes a book among books, perhaps better than most, but not sanctified in the heart and mind. In this unfortunate case scripture has lost the power to shape a life. The Bible becomes a book of ripping good stories, outdated laws, and suspect scientific claims. At worst it is hopelessly irrelevant to guide a life and at best it is the “good book” rather than the “Holy Bible.” Yet, King David’s words formed a mold to fashion our children when he truthfully uttered, “if Your law had not been my delight, then I would have perished in my affliction“ (Ps. 119:92). It is worth noting that David does not attribute his salvation from affliction with simply knowing scripture but with delighting in the words of God. Maybe this is what our children need most from us. They need to see that the Bible has hold of our hearts, that the Bible inspires and delights us. Perhaps only then will our goal be accomplished as they decide to make it the cornerstone of their lives, too.

 

Most evangelical Christians are aware of the importance of secret and corporate worship, but fewer have even heard of family worship. What is family worship? It is pretty simple. Tonight, sit down with your family on the couch or at the dinner table. And then . . . pray together, read the Bible together, and sing a great hymn of the faith together. There are many reasons for doing family worship, but let us just mention a handful. Family worship:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11 Reasons for Family Worship

 

1. Glorifies and Honors God.

 

2. Centers the Home on Christ.

 

3. Encourages Christian Character.

 

4. Encourages Peace in the Home.

 

5. Binds the Family Together.

 

6. Provides Common Knowledge.

 

7. Trains Children for Corporate Worship. 

 

8. Encourages our Children in Christ.

 

9. Reinforces Spiritual Headship.

 

10. Provides Systematic Discipleship.

 

11. Provides Generational Testimony.

 

--Jason Helopoulos in The What, When, and How of Family Worship

 

 

 

 

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