The most neglected step of leadership at home may be equipping our children to become all they can be in Christ. While the church and our wives are tasked to assist fathers, we [as fathers] are the ones charged by God with the responsibility to equip children for life by teaching them the ways of the Lord.  

If God said to you as a dad, “There is one investment you can make in your child’s future that I guarantee is more precious than gold, that will bring him a lifetime of enjoyment, a lifetime of protection from harm and a lifetime in which he is richly rewarded,” would you pay attention?  The fact is that God has made such a promise—the question is whether or not we will take him up on it!

In our study of spiritual leadership at home, we have used a right triangle to depict the three parts and processes of successful leadership. We observed that it begins with an arrow between the leader and the mission across the X axis, the first function of leadership being to FOCUS/MODEL. Then, the past two weeks, we studied the arrow between the leader and his followers up the vertical Y axis, the second function of leadership being to BUILD HIS RELATIONSHIP with his wife and children. Today, we begin to examine the third arrow across the hypotenuse between the followers and the mission, being to EQUIP/ASSIST his followers to reach their full potential in Christ. Even if a leader is good at the first two functions, staying focused on his mission and building relationships with his followers, he will still fail if he does not equip them with what they need to reach spiritual maturity. The most neglected step of leadership at home may be equipping our followers to become all they can be in Christ. While the church and our wives are tasked to assist fathers, WE are the ones charged by God with the responsibility to equip children for life by teaching them the ways of the Lord. 

Today’s episode focuses on the one most foundational equipping tool for spiritual growth, the Word of God. It is described by Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be THOROUGHLY EQUIPPED for every good work. How do we get the Word of God into our kid’s lives?

Help Them See God’s Word as a Treasure Chest of Riches

In Psalm 19 God’s people celebrate his revelation of himself in creation (called general revelation) and his revelation of himself in his Word (called special revelation), notably what pleases him revealed in his Law. Verses 7-11 reveal the way God’s moral law is like a precious jewel refracting light into every facet of human life.

The Law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much pure gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, your servant is warned by them; in keeping them there is great reward.

1. The Law of the Lord is perfect restoring the soul. The term, Law of the Lord refers here to the general life principles taught throughout Scripture. Perfect refers to completeness. It contains all we need. The purpose of the overall Law of the Lord is to restore the soul. Remember that one of the most foundational biblical doctrines is that sin causes us to suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18), that our fallen hearts are darkened in their understanding (Eph 4:18), that there is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death (Prov 14:12). This darkened understanding includes not just our thinking but impacts our attitudes and feelings as well. There is only one way for a broken soul—mind will, and emotions—to be restored to what God created it to be—through the Word of God. Here are some examples of how this works:

• We think: The path to wealth is to hold on to what we have and add to it. God says, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, it will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you” (Lk 6:38).
• We think: The path to sexual satisfaction is surrendering to urges. God says:  The path to satisfaction is always choosing the righteous path to satisfy desires. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied” (Matt 5:6).
• We think: God won’t prosper my efforts because I am too weak and sinful. God says: “In your weakness my power is shown the more completely: (2 Cor 12:9).
• We think: When we’re hurt by another’s criticism we need to withdraw and shut another out so he or she will treat us with more grace in the future. God says: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy” (Matt 5:7).
• We think: The path to respect is achieving. God says: The path to respect is helping others achieve. “Whoever would be great among you must become the servant of all” (Matt 20:26).

Because our child inherits our sinful nature, her soul has a broken understanding of life. We need to use the Law of the Lord to restore her soul to wholeness.

1. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. Testimony refers to true life accounts in Scripture. Those stories make Gods Word sure, cementing into our mind the principles of Scripture. For example, when we see what happened to David and his family resulting from his adultery with Bathsheba, we more fully realize that the wage sin pays is always destruction. Testimonies make wise the simple. The simple are the naïve and gullible regarding how life actually works. But God’s testimonies causes them to see life as it really is, from God’s point of view.
2. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Precepts are rules—the specific application of biblical principles. I believe God has revealed a specific order for teaching God’s Word here. 1) It should start with the Law of the Lord—the general, big-picture principle behind a rule. 2) Then, it is best to illustrate that truth with the testimony of the Lord, a true story from Scripture. If we do that first, we will find that 3) sharing the precept of the Lord brings rejoicing. But if we skip directly to the precept, presenting it without steps 1 and 2, the naked rule often causes rebellion. For example, we can just say to teens, “Sex before marriage is wrong,” which goes straight to the rule. That won’t cause rejoicing but rejecting. After all, today no one waits until marriage to have sex. To their minds, Victorian prudishness, like old technology, has been replaced by the enlightened realization that sex is wonderful. To overcome such thinking requires a fuller picture to accompany the prohibition.

• In God’s design, He intends for the union of bodies to be the ecstatic celebration of the permanent uniting of lives and hearts in marriage.
• Everyone knows that rape is so destructive that a woman may never heal internally from this trauma, which demonstrates the Bible’s view of sex. It is more than recreation; it is sharing extremely vulnerable parts of ourselves.
• We also sense this vulnerability in our own uneasiness about being naked in front of another, which is God’s gracious way of sending us the message, “Even in romance nakedness is not safe until each partner has vowed to unconditionally love the other in front of family, church, state, and friends.”
• Sex is designed to glue husband and wife together throughout the tough process of merging lives. But after casual sex, since your partner moves on, it is like ripping apart pieces of paper that were glued together; it tears the soul.

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