Training Our Children in the Lord | Part 2

On October 14, 2013July 29, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Family, Practical2 Comments

Today we had the joy of dedicating several babies and families at Sycamore Baptist Church, my family included. Here is what I shared with them regarding the “How To” of training your child in the Lord (Part 1).

(1) We have to be diligent and deliberate

In Deuteronomy 6:6-7 Moses writes,

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

The image behind the word teach is that of an engraver carving an image in stone, which is a great image when it comes to parenting.

Masterpieces aren’t produced willy nilly. They start with a plan. An understanding of the final product. The positioning of the image on the stone. The tools and resources needed to complete the work. These things need to be in place first before the engraving process can begin.

Once started, the engraver must deliberately follow their plan and be diligent about their work. Engraving an image in stone doesn’t happen over night, it takes weeks, months, or even years.

Parents must do the same. They must have a plan. Know the endgame. Gather the necessary resources, and be deliberate and diligent in teaching their children.

Parents must take great care in working their plan out over the years.

(2) We have to see everything we do as an opportunity to teach our children

Parents must see everything they do as a teaching opportunity. Sitting down with our children a couple days a week to read through God’s Word is important and necessary, but that can’t be all we do.

Think about the engraver. What if he took a whack or two at the stone every couple of days? Do you think he would finish his project? It’s unlikely he would finish. What does he have to do to finish? He has to be at it all day.

Parents must do the same.

If they want to engrave God’s word on their children’s hearts, they must look for and take every opportunity to teach their children God’s Word.

In order to be at it all day, teaching times can’t always be planned. They must take place on the fly. As they are sitting around the house, walking by the way, lying down and rising up, parents must be ready to teach their children.

Questions for Reflection

Do you have a plan to train your children?
What resources are you using?
Have you stuck to your plan over the years?
What fruit have you seen from being deliberate and diligent?
How do you take advantage of day to day activities to teach your children?

Resources

Post adapted from my sermon Training Our Children in the Lord

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On Forgiveness

On October 3, 2013July 29, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, Discipleship, Quotes2 Comments

All sin breaches our relationship with God, but we must never think that the Lord will refuse us if we humble ourselves and return to Him with true contrition.

He longs to take us back, and His willingness to forgive His children is infinite.

No matter where we are or what we have done, we can be confident that God will pardon us if we forsake our sin and turn to Christ alone for our pardon. That is the magnitude of His grace. That is the mercy of the God whom we serve in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Questions for Reflection

How do you think of God’s grace and mercy alongside His justice?
What is the key to the Lord taking us back?

Resources

Table Talk Magazine, Devotional from July 4th

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On Man’s Ego

On October 2, 2013July 29, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Devotionals, Quotes6 Comments

Never in the history of the race has man been so busily occupied with the study of himself as he is today.

The behavioral scientists and the religionists are turning out tons of material for us to read as we search for new knowledge about ourselves. Most of us are surprisingly eager to do our assigned reading because, quite frankly, we are enthralled and fascinated with our subject. We are unreservedly devoted to this baffling, unmanageable creature called man.

No one interests us more than ourselves.

One large reason for this is that we are all egoists at heart. And that’s a problem, the world’s biggest. God has shown us how this problem is solved. God is Himself the solution.

Questions for Reflection

Are you enthralled with yourself?
Do you realize you have an ego problem?
Do you know that God is the solution?

Resources

Earl Jabay, The god-players, preface.

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Wisdom Apart From the Lord is a Counterfeit

On October 1, 2013July 29, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn DevotionalsLeave a comment

Where can we find wisdom? Man says in Philosophy, the arts, or by looking to ourselves, but God tells us something different. Here is what He says through Job:

“But where shall wisdom be 
          found?
     And where is the place of 
          understanding?
Man does not know its worth,
     and it is not found in the land 
          of the living.
The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
     and the sea says, ‘It is not with 
          me.’
It cannot be bought for gold,
     and silver cannot be weighed as 
          its price.
It cannot be valued in the gold of 
          Ophir,
     in precious onyx or sapphire.
Gold and glass cannot equal it,
     nor can it be exchanged for 
          jewels of fine gold.
No mention shall be made of 
          coral or of crystal;
     the price of wisdom is above 
          pearls.
The topaz of Ethiopia cannot 
          equal it,
     nor can it be valued in pure 
          gold.

“From where, then, does wisdom 
          come?
     And where is the place of 
          understanding?
It is hidden from the eyes of all 
          living
     and concealed from the birds of 
          the air.
Abaddon and Death say,
     ‘We have heard a rumor of it 
          with our ears.’

“God understands the way to it,
     and he knows its place.
For he looks to the ends of the 
          earth
     and sees everything under the 
          heavens.
When he gave to the wind its 
          weight
     and apportioned the waters by 
          measure,
when he made a decree for the 
          rain
     and a way for the lightning of 
          the thunder,
then he saw it and declared it;
     he established it, and searched 
          it out.
And he said to man,
     ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that 
          is wisdom,
     and to turn away from evil is 
          understanding.’ ” - Job 28:12-28

Where Do We Find Wisdom?

Wisdom isn’t found with man. It can’t be bought. It can’t be searched, or mined out of the self. Wisdom is found only in the Lord, and specifically in fearing the Lord.

Wisdom is found only in the Lord.

Wisdom, then, is learning and obeying God’s commandments. It is living according to God’s ways and not man’s ways.

So then, if you aren’t following God, you aren’t wise. Your wisdom is counterfeit because true wisdom is found only in the fear of the Lord.

Questions for Reflection

Where do you believe Wisdom is found?
Do you agree with Job?

Resource

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Training Our Children in the Lord | Part 1

On September 29, 2013July 29, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn Family, Practical5 Comments

It Starts With You

Training our children to know and obey God is an extension of our relationship with, obedience to, and knowledge of God. If we aren’t following God or obeying God, we have no hope of teaching our children to follow and obey God, which means it starts with us.

There are a few things we must do:

(1) We have to have a relationship with the One True God

In Deuteronomy 6:4 Moses writes,

The Lord our God, the Lord is One.

Essentially, Moses tells us the God of Israel is the One True God. There are no other gods. Everything else out there is a counterfeit god.

Before we can train our children, we have to know the One true God ourselves. We have to have a relationship with the God of the Bible. That’s because training our children is an extension of our relationship with God.

(2) We have to serve God with our whole being

Moses tells us that in Deuteronomy 6:5. He writes,

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Moses means our entire lives, our whole being should be subject to God. We don’t hold anything back. God gets all of us. He directs everything we do. He directs the way we work. He directs our leisure activities. He determines our desires and what we want out of life. He determines everything we do, which means we must give Him more than just an hour on Sunday. We have to give Him our whole lives.

If we want to train our children, we have to be serving God with our whole being first. That’s because training our children is an extension of our obedience to God.

(3) We have to know God’s Word

If our whole life is to be directed by God’s Word, we have to know it. Moses makes that clear when he says,

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

To say God’s Word must be on our heart, is just another way of saying it should be on our minds constantly, or at the forefront of our mind. That is only possible if we are reading, meditating on, memorizing, and prioritizing God’s Word in our lives.

If we want God’s word to inform everything we do, if we want to have a biblical worldview, then we have to know it. But more than that, it has to be the grid we run everything through.

So we learn that in order to live by and teach our children God’s commandments, we have to know them. That’s because training our children is an extension of our knowledge of God and His Word.

Conclusion

These things have to be in our lives first, because training our children is an extension of our own relationship with, obedience to, and knowledge of God. It starts with us. If we are not doing these things, we can’t raise our children in the Lord.

Questions for Reflection

How are you doing?
Do you have a relationship with God?
Do you live according to God’s commandments?
Are you actively working toward learning more about God’s Word?

Resources

Post adapted from my sermon Training Our Children in the Lord

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God Ordains All Our Work

On September 26, 2013July 29, 2015 By Dr. Casey LewisIn PracticalLeave a comment

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. – Jeremiah 1:5

Before Jeremiah was born, God had a plan for his life. He knew, consecrated, and appointed him to be a prophet. God accomplished His plan for Jeremiah’s life. He served as a prophet to Judah during the latter years of Jerusalem before they were conquered by Babylon.

What about us?

If the prophet’s vocation was established before he was born, it is not a stretch to assume that our sovereign Lord has a plan for our lives as well. Before we were born, the Lord marked out our days, determining our vocation and the ways He might use us.

Our vocation, then, is God ordained. Ministers are not the only ones called and set aside by God. We are all called. God ordains all our work.

You are not sitting in your cubicle or corner office, your not working at Starbucks, running a thriving photography business, dancing on broadway, or teaching kindergarten by accident. You didn’t get yourself there. God determined your vocation and accomplished His plan just like He did with Jeremiah.

Questions for Reflection

If God ordains all our work, what are the implications? How does it change your view of your vocation?
How should we view our God ordained vocation in regard to ministry? In other words, do you believe ministry only occurs during church activities?

Resources

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