Elements of a Christian Home- Responsibility
Elements of a Christian Home • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction
We have now shared a number of elements that are vital to the production of a truly Christian home. In the last several weeks we have saw how members who behave as Christians, order according to God’s design, Christ-like love, and lifetime commitment are each necessary if a home is to be a Christian home.
So far our focus has been primarily on the relationship between husband and wife with only passing comments in regard to the relationship between parents and their children.
Today this relationship will become our primary focus. The element that we are going to find in scripture today is that of responsibility. We are going to examine the responsibilities of children in relationship to their parents as well as the responsibilities of parents to their children.
This relationship between parents and children is not only important to the production of Christian homes today but also to the production of Christian homes in future generations.
A Child’s Responsibilities (Vs. 1-3)
A Child’s Responsibilities (Vs. 1-3)
Children you must understand that part of the responsibility for the production of a truly Christian home is squarely on your shoulders. If you know Christ and have a desire to grow up in a Christian home you must be committed to fulfilling your biblical responsibilities in the context of that home.
Your responsibilities in the home are all relative to your relationship with your parents. There are two primary responsibilities that are revealed to us in the scriptures that you must act upon.
The first is to OBEY
As a child in the home underneath the authority that God has placed in your life, you must be committed to obeying your parents.
Why should you obey your parents? This portion of scripture gives a very simply answer, because it is right!
You must come to understand that to disobey your parents is in actuality to disobey God. It is He who has placed you where you are and in the home where you now reside and has placed you underneath the authority of your parents.
You may say “But what if my parents are not Christians?” This does not give you an excuse not to obey. As long as your parents do not ask you to directly violate the Word of God, your responsibility is to simply obey them.
There are going to be times when you feel that their rules are too harsh or you disagree with their perspective on an issue, but yet you must obey!
There will be times when you think you know more than your parents, yet your responsibility is still to obey. - Jesus subject to his parents
There will be times
A home cannot truly be what God desires for it to be if the children in the home refuse to submit to the authority of their parents.
The Second is to HONOUR (show respect, give recognition)
As a child in the home you are also responsible for showing your parents the respect that they deserve as God-given authority figures in your life.
You never have the right to be disrespectful to your parents and to do so is to sin against God.
The seriousness of this sin can be seen in the stipulations of the OT law. Those who dishonoured father or mother were to be put to death. - Jesus cites this
We are no longer under the law but this does not mean that the sin of dishonouring your father or mother is any less serious.
One way that you honor your parents is to live a life that is pleasing to the Lord and which is a good testimony not only for Christ but for your parents as well.
Your actions should never bring shame and reproach upon your parents.
There is a promise tied to our keeping of this commandment. There is a reward for those who will honor their father and mother as God has directed.
To obey and to honor your mother and father will bring glory to God.
A Parent’s Responsibilities
A Parent’s Responsibilities
The first responsibility listed in this verse is that you avoid provocation. This command is given specifically to the father as the head of the home. It is evident that there is the possibility of being too harsh or too strict and ultimately provoking wrath in our children and driving them away. - discouraged
“Rules without relationship leads to rebellion”
There is no denying that every child needs rules and restrictions to protect them and to help guard their testimony. There are times when rules and restrictions become overwhelming and do more harm than good.
Think about our relationship with the Lord. I am not angry because God has placed rules and restrictions upon how I live my life. It is because I understand that Christ loves me and any rules or restrictions He gives are for my benefit, not to harm me or to keep me from enjoyment.
The next instruction given to parents is to “bring them up” This wording literally has to do with helping them to mature.
Bring Them to Maturity
Our ultimate goal as a parent should be to help our sons to develop into godly young men and our daughters to develop into godly young ladies.
It is not the responsibility of the church, the school, the daycare, or anyone else to raise your children. These can all provide assistance, but the primary responsibility falls naturally to the parents.
The first responsibility of a parent is to lovingly INSTRUCT
We must provide biblical instruction to our children in we are to have a Christian home.
There are two primary methods of instruction communication and training.
We must implement both if we are to instruct our children in the way that they should go.
We must communicate what our expectations for them are but we must also be sure that we are modeling these expectations ourselves.
Children will often learn much more from what you do than they ever learn from what you say.
If we want our children to have a strong work ethic we must model a strong work ethic before them.
If we expect our children to read their bible and pray, they ought to see us read our bible and pray each day.
The second responsibility of a parent is to lovingly DISCIPLINE
As we instruct our children, there will be times when they refuse to heed our instruction disobeying our will in favor of their own.
How do we respond in these situations? There must be consequences for disobedience!
Every parent ought to study the scriptures and determine their own means of discipline but we cannot neglect to discipline our children.
- the Lord does not neglect to discipline His own children.
Discipline should always be carried out with the intent of restoration not merely punishment alone.
Discipline should never be done in anger, but always in love with the intent of compassionate correction.
It is also vital that our discipline is consistent if it is to be effective.
Conclusion
If children and parents will each recognize the responsibilities they have been given and will exercise them under the Lord’s direction we can know what it is to have a truly Christian home, the closest thing to heaven on this earth.
Let us never neglect our God-given responsibilities to one another, otherwise we effectively guarantee that our home will never be what God desires it to be.