FOM
Notes
Teaching Balance
Part 1 of 4 in the series “Help, I’m A Parent!”
August 2, 2009 Pastor Scott Oldenburgh
PARENTAL MANDATE
“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
doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
Deuteronomy 6:7-9
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he
is old he will not turn from it.”
Proverbs 22:6
God has clearly placed the role of raising children
on the shoulders of the (parents)
PARENTAL GOAL
Every parent struggles to find a balance between (obedience)
and (grace)
OBEDIENCE
“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this
is right.”
Ephesians 6:1
à Too much
obedience and a child grows a (robotic) faith
à Not enough
obedience and a child grows (wild) roots
GRACE
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works,
so that no one can boast.”
Ephesians 2:8-9
à Not enough
grace and a child never understands the (depth) of love
à Too much
grace and a child thinks that (forgiveness) is
cheap
WHERE DO WE FIND THIS TYPE OF
BALANCE?
God’s relationship with (us) best represents
our responsibility as a parent to our children
THE FATHER AND THE SON
LUKE 15
“So he got up and went to his father. But while he
was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for
him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
v. 20
IDEAS FOR TEACHING BALANCE TO OUR
CHILDREN
ª Teach them
the (heart) and (character) of God
To fully trust God a child needs to know something
about God
ª Encourage
them in their (faith) walk
A child that knows God, not just about God, will
experience what you are trying to teach them
ª Look for (teachable)
moments
A child needs to see that God isn’t just a story in
the Bible
ª (Model)
it in your daily life
A child will understand the most from what they
live, not what they learn