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Children, Ephesians 6:1-4 contains special words addressed very specifically to you. Words from God Himself. The God who made you. The God who cares for you. And who wants you to trust and obey Him. And I hope you will be eager to know what God has to say to you about relating to your parents, and what that means for your relationship to Him.
How are Christian parents and children called to relate to one another within the church? Ephesians 6:1-4 speaks to parents and in some ways, even more directly, to children. This text doesn’t cover everything the Bible has to say about it, but it actually covers, at least in summary form, a pretty decent part of it. In a sense, all of the Scriptures are relevant to the outworking of the parent-child relationship. But in terms of the specific obligations that are given between parents and children, the Bible actually doesn’t say a lot. I can give a pretty decent summary in just a few statements:
Parents are called to:
• Instruct their children in the ways of the Lord (that’s a big one).
• Discipline them when they disobey.
• Not provoke or exasperate them (Be loving, patient, kind).
• Provide for their material needs.
• Be thankful for them (recognize them as gifts from the Lord).
Children are called to:
• Honor and obey their parents.
• Receive their instruction and discipline.
• Follow their lead.
• And trust their provision.
There isn’t a whole lot more the Bible requires between parents and children. As good as organized sports and musical training and college scholarships may be — and I do think those are good things — they are not the essence of our parenting as Christians. And neither are they the essence of being a godly, “successful” child in the eyes of God. In fact, one of the temptations we face, especially in a society as affluent as ours, is that so many of those good things can very easily begin to encroach on and override the priority of these biblical essentials so that the essentials begin to get shortchanged and pushed aside.
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