Raising Children of God 1 John 3:10 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

When you decide to have children you must remember the responsibility you assume.  You are charged with the task of rearing a child of God, not just a child.  So, often I have heard parents rejoice to tell others that their child has begun to inquire about God and then to proclaim shortly thereafter, as if it were the ultimate accomplishment, “Little Johnny got saved!”  They sigh with relief leaving you with the impression that they have finished their jobs as Christian parents.  Folks, getting your child saved is not the ultimate objective of raising children of God.  There is much, much more to it.

Raising children of God begins with establishing a home in which a child can become a child of God and can grow as a child of God after he gets saved.  In other words, you need to start with setting up your home before you concern yourself with raising your children.  In order to do that, parents need to be:

Godly – 1 Tim 2:9-10 – your home needs to be set up the way God designed – your children need to see godliness demonstrated – so the wife needs to live what she is commanded to live [Tit 2:4-5] and the husband what he is commanded to live [Eph 5:23-28] – you need a godly home if you are going to raise godly children – then your children can trust God to work through you to prepare them for life.

Spiritual – 1 Pet 2:5 – as the Lord’s house is spiritual so yours needs to be spiritual – a home where you are led by the Spirit, you read the Bible, you pray, you trust God and God’s presence and provisions are evident in your home – Deut 6:5-9 – where your Christianity is not a hypocritical religion of man but a relationship with God.

Sanctified – 2 Chr 29:5 – as the Lord’s house is sanctified so yours needs to be sanctified – there is no room for sin in the home – you must deal with sins of the flesh, sins of the eyes, sins of pride [anger, self-will, fear (failure to trust God, lack of faith), and disobedience] – 1 Jn 3:10 whosever doeth not righteousness is not of God – you need separation from the world.

Faithful – Heb 3:2, 5 – you need to be consistent in the things of God: in church attendance, in giving, in living for the Lord at other times so that what’s done in the home is consistent with what is done outside of the home, in witnessing – when you are faithful you can’t be pulled from the Lord’s will by life’s distractions – people often say, “I couldn’t come to church because of such and such other thing” – there’s always going to be something – you need to be faithful no matter what – God is faithful to you.

Conclusion: this is just the first part of a few messages we’ll preach on the subject of raising children of God – you would be wise to follow the scriptures in each of these sermons in order to transform your home.