Wise Unto Salvation: Leading Your Children to Christ
As Senior Pastor of a church I have a tremendous responsibility. I don’t take that for granted. I feel the weigh of this responsibility every day of my life. I daily cast myself before the Lord pleading for His wisdom to lead God’s beloved people in the right way. Although this is a heavy burden there is an even greater weight that I bear and that is the weight of being a father. There is nothing I desire more in this life than that my children come to know Jesus Christ as Savior, that they love Him and live a life that brings glory to his name. I know this is likewise the desire of every Christian parent. If I fail in winning my own children to faith in Christ I have failed as a preacher. But if I can, by God’s help, bring my family to faith in Christ and yet have few converts in my ministry I will be a success in God’s eyes. Noah had very few converts but the converts he did have were his children and their wives. There is no greater responsibility that I have than to lead my children safely on board the Ark of salvation. In this awesome task I am totally dependent upon the grace and mercy of God. But I also must seek God for wisdom. In this post I would like to share some thoughts I received from meditating on 2 Timothy 3:14-16. In verse 15 of that passage Paul said to Timothy, “And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise uto salvation.”
1. Begin early – “that from a child…”The Greek word for “child” [brephos] is a word that speaks of the earliest beginning of a child. In fact it is used in Scripture to speak of infants not yet born (Luke 1:41) and of a newborn infant (Luke 2:12). Research on brain development is clear that the first three years are critical to a child’s future success. It is amazing how much children begin to learn at an early age. This is an opportune time to begin to teach them select simple verses of Scripture. It is never too early to begin to plant the seed of God’s Word in their heart. Scripture also affirms the God begins to reveal truth to “babes.” Jesus said, ”I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things [Biblical truth] from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes” (Matthew 11:25). Charles Spurgeon the Prince of Preachers said, “Let none despise the stirrings of the Spirit in the hearts of the young. Let not boyish anxieties and juvenile repentances be lightly regarded. I, at least, can bear my personal testimony to the fact that grace operates on some minds at a period almost too early for recollection.”
2. Teach them the trustworthiness of Holy Scripture. – “thou hast know the holy scriptures…” Children must understand that the Bible is the inspired and authoritative Word of God. We teach them this by how we as parents value and live according to the principles of Scripture. The Bible has been under attack through the years among evangelical Christianity. First, there was the attack on the inspiration of Scripture. There was a long hard battle over this issue and the battle was won. The attack now is more dangerous and insidious. The attack now is on Scripture’s sufficiency. Is God’s Word sufficient to teach me how to live and deal with the problems of life? We tell kids today, “Oh yes the Bible is God’s Word but unfortunately it is not enough. We need to go outside of Scripture to find certain answers that pertain to life and godliness!” By doing so we inadvertently teach them to trust in man’s wisdom rather than God’s. I want my children to know the Bible is God’s Word and that it is sufficient for them. There is not a problem they face where the Bible does not have the answer! If children do not believe the Bible is God’s Word and that it is authoritative for their life then they will not respect it nor trust it as a reliable guide!
3. Teach them the Ten Commandments – “which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.” The sacred scriptures that Paul refers to here was obviously the Old Testament. The New Testament was not complete nor part of the canon when Paul wrote this let alone when Timothy was a child. Paul’s point is learning the Old Testament will make one wise unto salvation! What part? The law, specifically, the Ten Commandments, prepares a child’s heart for salvation making them wise unto salvation! The Psalmist said, “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7). Paul wrote in Galatians 3:24, “Therefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” The word “schoolmaster” is the Greek word paidagogos meaning a tutor i.e. a guardian and guide of boys. Among the Greeks and the Romans the name was applied to trustworthy slaves who were charged with the duty of supervising the life and morals of boys belonging to the better class. The boys were not allowed so much as to step out of the house without them before arriving at the age of manhood. They were responsible for the whole process of teaching and instructing the child morally. The law, specifically, the Ten Commandments, is like that schoolmaster preparing young hearts to receive the message of the gospel. That is why it is a great tool for evangelizing children. It was a master stroke of the devil to have the Ten Commandments removed from public places. Why? The devil does not want them to be viewed or heard because of the truths they teach about God.
A. The Ten Commandments teach children God is holy.
This is a lesson that we don’t emphasize enough with children! We teach them God is love but the first lesson they must learn is the first lesson Israel learned at Mt. Sinai (Exo. 20). God is a holy God and therefore He hates sin! It is a fearful thing to sin against a holy God.
B. The Ten Commandments teach children that God demands perfection.
God has an absolute standard of perfection, and none of us are able to attain it! When childen come to realize that they are sinners and fall short of God’s perfect standard they begin to see they are in need of God’s forgiveness. It prepares their heart for God’s message of mercy found in the gospel.
C. The Ten Commandments teach children to fear God.
Children need to learn to fear God. They must understand that God is a holy God who punishes all sin. They must understand that this holy God hates sin to the degree that one sin is enough to damn a soul to hell for all eternity. When children begin to grasp the concepts of God’s holiness and wrath for sin it begins to make them wise unto salvation. Proverbs 9:10 says, ”The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” Jonathan Edwards said the first doctrine we should teach children is the doctrine of eternal torment. He felt as if there was a lack of the fear of God in the hearts of youth.
D. The Ten Commandments teach children they are sinners.
The law brings us face to face with our sinfulness. That is what is necessary before salvation can take place! Children must understand the concept of sin and their own innate sinfulness. The law is like a mirror that display not the outer man but the inner man. The Ten Commandments reveal to the individual what they look like on the inside. It reveals our sin nature. It brings us to the end of any hope within oursleves of goodness and righteousness before God. The law breaks us because of our sinful condition.
The Great Reformer Martin Luther is a great example of the convicting power of the law and the brokenness it brings! One day in July year 1505 Luther, a university student at the time, was traveling along a parched road. Suddenly a violent thunderstorm came upon him. A bolt of lightning came crashing down next to him knocking him to the ground. He cried out in terror, “St. Ann, help me and I will become a monk.” Shortly after his experience Luther paid his vow and became an Augustinian monk. As a monk Luther had an acute awareness of the holiness of God. He set out to be a perfect monk He fasted for days, indulged in severe forms of self-flagellation. He went beyond the rules of the monastery in matters of self-denial. He sought to keep the Ten Commandments rigorously. He sought to obtain grace and salvation through his own merits.
Yet, the harder he tried to merit salvation and keep the commandments the more sinful he felt. Luther went to confession everyday. He would drive the Priests crazy because he did not just stay for few minutes, he stayed for hours. He wanted to make sure that no sin in his life was unconfessed. On one occasion Luther stayed in confession for six hours confessing the sins he had committed the previous day. The superiors of the monastery began to wonder about Luther. They considered the possibility that he was a “goldbricker” preferring to spend long hours in confession rather than doing his priestly chores. But Luther was in torment he had no peace. He knew that he stood before God a great sinner and that God was Holy. Someone asked Luther why are you so cast down, don’t you love God? Luther responded, “Love God? Sometimes I hate him. He seems to me as nothing more than an angry judge, with a sword in His hand.” Luther knew that he could not meet God’s standard of righteousness and thought God was unjust, unfair. His superiors sent him on a pilgrimage to Rome hoping this would help him. Catholics believe that by looking on sacred relics merit was gained and grace was thus imparted. But this only made Luther worse. He saw the corruption in the church. He ascended the Holy Stairs the “Santa Scalia” on his knees stopping to pray on each step until he reached the top. But nothing he did brought peace to his troubled soul.
Finally, one day as Luther was studying the Book of Romans. He was meditating on the phrase “the just shall live by faith.” Suddenly, like a lightning bolt from heaven it he saw it. It was gloriously simple, it was simply glorious. One is not saved by works, laws, rituals, ceremonies, indulgences, penance or merit. One is saved by faith in Jesus Christ He later wrote of that experience, “Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt thus to be reborn and to have gone through open doors to paradise…The Scripture took on a whole new meaning…. This passage of Paul became to me a gate to heaven.” Just as God’s law brought Luther to see his need of God’s mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ even so it will do the work of making our children wise unto salvation.
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Growing up in Germany the Bible NT. Translated by Martin Luther
was part of my growing up. He clearly said, that one can only be saved by the faith that we must have in Jesus Christ. Knowing that,I still can not figure out why this is not being preached in our German Lutheran churches.People are lost because the plan of Salvation is not preached.
I have the feeling that most German’s dont look at Martin Luther the Reformer and translator of the NT. but rather as part of a historicl event .If you watch most visitors that go to “The Wartburg ML called it “his Patmos” or Wittenberg it is just history.
Thank you for these words of wisdom. Losing my children would be like losing my own soul as well. I pray daily that they will grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank you also for being such a blessing to our family.
Hey very nice blog!!….I’m an instant fan, I have bookmarked you and I’ll be checking back on a regular….See ya
Hello, it really interesting, thanks
Dr. Jerry R. Harmon is Senior Pastor of Ellendale Baptist Church, Bartlett, TN